Raspberry Cocktail
by wwwwwww
Summary: A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense. A collection of NaruSasu-centric drabbles.
1. Of Couches and Raspberry Cocktail

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- Because I have turned into one lazy, lazy little girl, I've been limited to writing little drabbles every so often. So I have decided to put them all into a compilation. Recently I haven't been able to finish a fic to save my life, so hopefully this'll break me outta my slump. I have a NaruIno one-shot currently five pages long that is screaming to be finished, so I'm looking forward to breaking out of this block. Writer's constipation? Yes plz!

Some drabbles will be longer, some will be shorter. There's no word or page limit. There's no plot and could range in a variety of genres. Though some of them will connect with each other.

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**.1. Of Couches and Raspberry Cocktail**

The furniture was _atrocious_.

And _appalling_. And other various adjectives Sasuke had managed to call forth from that brilliant brain of his. He would rather catch a squirrel with his bare hands and eat it raw than sit in that monstrosity he called a couch.

Well, maybe not.

But it was the foulest color, old and worn (well-loved), and Sasuke was very reluctant to have it in his (excellent) peripheral vision every day for God knew how long. He knew Naruto was a stubborn guy and would never conform to getting rid of the thing, even if a new and better model had come along. He was too sentimental and grew attached to the strangest things.

"Why do you even have something of this color in your house?"

Naruto's ears perked at the low voice acknowledging him. "You sound pissed."

Dark eyes rolled sarcastically. He continued his given task of removing the contents of a dusted cardboard box, which had been a good amount of books. Who knew Naruto enjoyed reading?

"That has gotta be the ugliest piece of furniture I've ever seen."

A light eyebrow hidden by shaggy blond bangs quirked. Naruto stood and stretched his arms over his head. He had been cramped in a corner for too long. "Something not meeting your approval in here, Uchiha? Curtains the wrong color?" he started over towards the dark-haired nineteen year old, making a show of dusting off his dark-washed jeans. "Or do I need a lesson in feng shui?"

Sasuke motioned towards the offending fixture. "Did you pick that out yourself?"

"Hey, I _like_ that color. Look at it this way," Naruto quickly flicked Sasuke's sensitive earlobe. "It could have been orange."

Sasuke glowered slightly as he took silent pleasure in watching Naruto's toned backside as he quickly fled the room. He brought a hand to the tender flesh of his ear and rubbed it slightly, feeling the warmth of blood as it flushed red. Sasuke continued his staring contest with the couch.

"You are such an ugly shade of blue," he muttered quietly, voice deepening. He took in the multiple scratches leaking stuffing, the roughened cushions, and the worn throw pillows that were Naruto's subtle attempt to make the couch look appealing. "I'd hate to think of how you've become so roughed up."

"Aw, does the couch talk back, 'Suke?" Naruto laughed—no, _giggled_ as he strode into the room with a can of what Sasuke assumed was some sort of raspberry blend doused in sugar.

Sasuke's blood flow nearly ceased at Naruto's sudden entry. "Oh, shut up. I'm not the one who bought an ugly couch to begin with. You obviously weren't thinking clearly."

"I was thinking just fine." Naruto slumped onto the couch and opened his can of… juice? "What does Uchiha Sasuke care if I have an ugly-ass couch?"

"Because I'll have to look at it everyday, you idiot. Or did you forget that I'm moving in already? Were all my clothes you tossed into a gigantic pile in the corner not a dead giveaway?" Sasuke paused for a beat. "Speaking of, didn't I ask you to fold the rest of them? It looks like you just gave up halfway."

Naruto's face took on a mock expression of shock. "Well! Miss Sasuke has decided to acquire a new level of snooty attitude! Fold'em yourself, if you're that paranoid about it."

Sasuke was seconds away from retorting, the flushed color of Naruto's lips being the only thing halting him. His lips had taken on a bright cherry color from whatever was in that can he was drinking from, and they looked beyond kissable from Sasuke's standpoint.

"You look like you're wearing lip gloss." Sasuke's lips quirked into a small grin of amusement.

Naruto frowned noticeably and glanced down at the silver can in his hand and shrugged. He stood up and stretched once again, bones cracking. Sasuke twitched ever so slightly. The sun-kissed blond walked the short distance to Sasuke and mad a fierce grab for the coarse black hairs at the back of Sasuke's neck. He yanked downward and smashed his lips against his, Sasuke now only beating him by half an inch in height. Naruto paid careful attention to where his lips landed, and slipped a pink tongue into Sasuke's occupied mouth.

After a small clash of dominating lips, Naruto pulled away and nodded towards Sasuke. "So do you." He jiggled the drink playfully and wandered out of the room.

Sasuke subconsciously pouted faintly and ran a tongue across thin, equally red lips. Raspberry cocktail. He could taste the faint hint of raspberry juice and sweet sugar at a battle with Naruto's own natural taste. His temper had retreated with its tail between its legs, and Sasuke set himself down onto the couch. Much to his surprise, it was oddly comforting and warm; like a broken-in tennis shoe. He allowed himself to submit to couch's offered warmth and couldn't resist running a tongue over his now pink-tinted lips.

"I suppose… we can keep the couch."


	2. Of Undesirable Facial Features

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- 'Ello! More drabble! I love making Naruto and Sasuke argue over nothing.

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**.2. Of Undesirable Facial Features**

The gentle rustle of the newspaper became gentle background noise that rivaled the constant hum of the small fan that sat a few feet away on the wooden coffee table. The small apartment complex had been graced with a sweltering heat that summer afternoon. It was unusual for the apartment to become _that_ heated, and the two teens only explanation was a note taped to the door that read '_Air conditioning throughout the apartment building had ceased to function; please accept this complimentary fan as our apology. The problem is currently being investigated.'_

It was generous of the manager to distribute small white fans to every room in the apartment, Sasuke figured. But he still wasn't fond of the man. His disregard (although it decreased in recent years) for Naruto made him not quite so high on Sasuke's Christmas list. He wouldn't say it out loud, yet he was surprised that they even received a fan; which made him wonder if it was even the manager that distributed them.

All this thinking was giving the dark-eyed boy a colossal headache right over his eyes. The heat of midday was becoming increasingly unbearable and Sasuke was doing his damndest to keep himself occupied and survive the afternoon. This was a difficult task, since his blond was nowhere to be found. This fact considerably exaggerated the heat.

Sasuke shifted on the couch. He tried to keep his eyes from blurring the black and gray words on the newspaper into an unreadable mess. But in the midst of heat and boredom, it was becoming difficult.

Just when he thought he was about to totally lose his mind, the door to the apartment unlocked and opened. Naruto slid in, obviously beaten by the summer heat. His messy blond hair still showed streaks of captured sunlight, as did his bronzed skin. Sasuke looked up from his newspaper in silent rejoice.

"Where the hell were you? I haven't seen you all afternoon," Sasuke asked, folding the top of his paper down slightly.

"Damn, it's crazy out there, Sasuke!" Naruto breathed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "We're not the only ones outta air conditioning. It's like an epidemic or the plague or something!"

Naruto reached for the half-empty water bottle on the table next to the fan and took a huge swig. He set it back on the table and sat down on the arm of the couch next to Sasuke.

"Is it really that bad out there?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it's terrible. I ran into Neji and Hinata at the market when I was trying to find us some extra fans, and he said the Hyuuga complex isn't cooling off well either. Everyone's runnin' around like the sky's about to fall and burn our asses."

"Huh," Sasuke wrinkled his nose and adjusted his body on the couch so Naruto could have some room. The blue-eyed boy dropped down next to Sasuke and scratched his belly lazily.

"I ran into Kiba, too. That freaking asshole," Naruto's deepened voice drawled. "Started going on about how his mother was so amazing and somehow managed to fix their air conditioning with a rubber band and gorilla glue. And then he had the balls to push further and start asking which one of us wears the pants and is man enough to fix our air conditioner."

Sasuke smirked at that one. "Ha."

"I told him none of us were as manly as his dog-faced mom. Seriously, have you SEEN Kiba's mom?"

The dark haired boy smiled widely let out a pleasant chuckle, a deep sound that rang in Naruto's ears that he greatly enjoyed. He was ecstatic that Sasuke had begun to let his guard down and smile more often. When Sasuke smiled, Naruto was surprised at how well it fit his face. It was never a full-blown teeth-bearing grin that he himself typically sported, but a nice, wide smile that pulled at his cheeks and gave a shine to his beautiful dark eyes.

Naruto grinned similarly as he watched Sasuke smile and the blond subconsciously scratched an itch on the back of his neck. His eyes took on a mischievous glint as he chuckled, "Aw, Sasuke, you have dimples!"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke shot Naruto a glance out of the corner of his eye.

"You do! Seriously! Right…" Naruto lifted two skinny fingers to Sasuke's cheeks and poked. "There. Don't worry, it's totally hot."

"I do NOT have dimples." Sasuke replied flatly, ears burning as he tried to focus on the newspaper and not on the impish blue eyes staring at his face. He was never smiling again.

"Yes you do," Naruto replied teasingly. "Don't try to deny it when it's so painfully obvious."

Sasuke felt his thinning shell crumbling into a million pieces. "Shut up. You don't see me making fun of your freckles, do you?"

"That's because I don't _have_ any freckles, you idiot," Naruto grit his teeth and felt the blood rush to his ears and neck.

"Yes you do. Right…" Sasuke lifted a fair calloused finger to the bridge of Naruto's nose and replied mockingly, "There. And there. And there. And there."

"Shut up!" Naruto swatted Sasuke's hand away. "I do not!"

"Don't try to deny it when it's so _painfully_ obvious. Especially after being out in the sun since eight o'clock this morning." Sasuke smirked slightly, careful not to smile too widely. But ah, revenge was a sweet, sweet pleasure.

"Freckles can't be as bad a dimples. They totally demolish the hot-snot air you try to put on that just proves to everyone how gay for me you are." Naruto replied flatly, standing up from the couch.

"Mm, no. All I have to do is not smile, and no one is the wiser. There's nothing you can do about _your_ problem. I believe I win." Sasuke nonchalantly turned to a different section of the paper. "Unless you want to put on make-up to prove how gay for me _you_ are."

"Y'know what?" Naruto put his hands on his hips, wrinkled his nose and glared menacingly at the ceiling. "Fuck you, Dimples."

"You too, Freckles."

Naruto growled lowly in his throat and made his dramatic exit, leaving Sasuke on the couch contentedly with his paper. Another petty argument won. _Congrats, Uchiha_, Sasuke thought as he smiled and shook his head. But just as Naruto had a thing for Sasuke's dimples, he always had an unvoiced thing for the small dusting of dull brown freckles that graced Naruto's nose. They had faded slightly in recent years, but they were still obviously there. Between that and the thin whisker marks on each cheek, Sasuke couldn't help but love the blond even more.

But he also loved getting on his last nerve.

"Hey, Naruto! Stay away from the Maybelline."


	3. Of Chatting with Sakura chan

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- Another drabble, set a few months after the previous. (Sakura!)

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**.3. Of Chatting with Sakura-chan**

Naruto caught sight of bright bubblegum pink hair amidst the crowded market. Slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he grinned and shoved his way through the swarm of villagers that had accumulated within the last hour.

"Sakura-chan!"

The young woman paused at the male-deep voice that called out to her and spun around looking for the source. She saw a shock of blond hair making its' way towards her and a smile pulled at her smooth, lip glossed lips. She paused a moment to wipe her forehead, moist with sweat. There was a nasty flu going around that had hit the hospital like a tidal wave, so they had been shorthanded. Sakura had volunteered to help carry in some delivered hospital supplies with a few of the other medics. She welcomed the break Naruto was surely going to give her.

"Hey, you," Sakura replied, bones in her legs popping as she stood up to meet the blond boy. She stretched. "What are you up to? Where's your 'other half'?"

Naruto smiled warmly. Sakura hadn't been too receptive of his and Sasuke's relationship at first, but after time she had become more accepting. It was the fact that her childhood crush and childhood friend of so many years were shaking up together that had her head reeling. But despite her inner feelings, there was something about their relationship (and the relationship she still held with the both of them) that felt right. Sakura had learned to be more supportive, and learned to work it out with the two.

"At TenTen's family's weapon supplies store would be my guess. I dumped his ass a few hours back." Naruto motioned behind him with his thumb and grinned. "So, what's up here? You been demoted?"

A dry laugh escaped Sakura's throat as she glared at the heavy boxes at her feet. "No, not really. I volunteered to help move supplies into the hospital since we're so shorthanded. It sucks, but I dug my own grave."

Sakura was hoping that _maybe_ the tanned boy would offer to help her carry the supplies into the hospital.

"So, do you wanna take a break and get lunch with me or something?" Naruto passed a hand over his stomach. "And then I can help you carry some boxes, if you want."

Ah. There we go.

"Of course," Sakura's green eyes glinted. "I always welcome a break."

Sakura interlocked her arm with Naruto's, and she suddenly felt small next to his tall, thin frame. She had only reached a height of five-foot two, whereas Naruto shot up to five-foot six-and-a-half. He wasn't the tallest guy in the world, but he was to Sakura when they walked with each other.

"So, I'm not even gonna ask where we're headed," Sakura remarked.

Naruto grinned.

"How's Sasuke been? You guys haven't gotten into any trouble, have you? Are you still fighting like you used to?" Sakura shot out a plethora of questions that Naruto tried to keep up with.

"Whoa," he laughed. "Sasuke's fine. He's really loosened up; you'd be really surprised. I'm sorry we don't get to see you as often at the hospital."

"Well, I'd prefer seeing you somewhere other than the hospital," Sakura smiled. "But I miss you guys constantly. I miss hanging out with you, even if you guys are always swapping spit right in front of me."

"What, you don't like it?" Naruto waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. "Sorry. But we do love each other. And stuff's going great, especially now that it's fall and we don't have to fight with the manager over our damned air conditioning. And Sasuke's still pissed that he has dimples, and refuses to smile anymore. So that kinda puts a damper on things."

Sakura grinned. "That's… cute."

"Yeah, I guess. But he's a good guy; his attitude's really startin' to change a bit. We still insult each other and shit, but y'know, outta love."

"I'll bet," the pink-haired girl rested her head lightly on their interlocked arms and puffed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "You guys really confuse me sometimes."

Naruto chuckled. "I think you're making it too complicated."

"Love _can_ be complicated, you know." Sakura replied.

"Yeah, but we don't really see it that way, I guess," Naruto added. "It just sort of feels right, y'know? It just clicks. I just love being with him. He makes me happy."

A warm smile tugged at Sakura's lips. "Well, you know I'm always here if you wanna talk. You can always come to me if you have a spat. I wanna hear all the dirt so I can use it as blackmail someday."

"Oh. _That's_ supportive."

"That's me, babe."

The two rounded a corner, about half a mile away from Ichiraku. Sakura perked up at the sight of a tall young man with inky black hair and deep, rich eyes carrying a small cardboard box with the label of TenTen's family's shop gracing the side.

"Hey, Sakura," Sasuke smiled lightly.

"Hey, Sasuke! I'm so glad to see you!" Sakura broke away from her hold on Naruto's arm and gave Sasuke a hug.

"Me too. You'll have to tell us when you have some time off from work so we can do something," Sasuke replied, walking over to Naruto and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm heading home."

"It's Sakura's break, so I'm taking her to Ichiraku. Then I'm gonna help her unload some supplies at the hospital. I'll be back in a few hours, 'kay?" Naruto resumed his hold on Sakura's arm and grinned.

"Fine. I'll talk to you guys later." Sasuke began to make his way back to the apartment.

"Yeah, see ya, _Dimples_," Naruto called out mockingly behind him.

"See ya, Freckles." Sasuke called back in the same derogatory tone.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll never understand you people."

"Yeah, well, love is complicated, Sakura-chan."


	4. A Tough Shell to Crack

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- I wrote this sometime last year and posted it on my deviantART. It's obviously longer than the others, but I wanted to submit it here rather than a separate story because of how drabble-y it is. I've been feeling blah and kinda depressed the past few days, which led me to re-read this. It's a little confusing, but I liked how people were able to relate to it in a way.

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**.4. A Tough Shell to Crack**

It was nearly two in the morning, and the small room with white-splashed walls was near pitch black. A quarter moon provided little light on a relatively cloudy night. A cream-shaded light sitting on the brown wooden table was switched on, creating a small burst of illumination in the room.

"What…" came an garbled mumble from one side of the bed dressed in plain cream sheets. "What happened?" he made an attempt to turn halfway while rubbing his dark eyes still racked with sleep. "Why's the light on?"

"Because I can't sleep." Was the reply from the other side of the bed. He was lying on his back, blue eyes wandering here and there.

Sasuke reached towards his own side table and turned the clock to face him. "It's two in the morning! You mean to tell me you haven't gotten any sleep at all?"

Naruto shook his head a bit. "Not _really_. I mean, I drifted in and out a little bit, but I never really got to fully sleep."

"You even went to bed before I did," Sasuke muttered, still trying to keep himself awake. He tried his best to hide the crankiness that had arisen from his sudden awakening, but his patience was already wearing thin. Still, if he kept himself awake long enough to talk Naruto down from whatever problem he had, he would get to sleep faster than if he decided to argue. "Something wrong?"

"I… Yeah, I guess. Kinda."

"There's either something wrong, or there isn't. Which is it?"

"Yes. There's something wrong." Naruto bit his bottom lip hard. "But, y'know. It… Y'know, it doesn't really… You won't get it."

Sasuke's tongue ran over his lips, chapped and worn from the cool night air. "Not a word you just said made any lick of sense. Are you interested in telling me your problem, or are you just going to keep it to yourself and stay awake all night?"

Sasuke had given the blond an ultimatum. Naruto glared at the dark haired man out of the corner of his eye and sighed through his nose. He rolled his eyes. "I don't think you're even interested in my problem. You sure don't sound like it."

"Because it's _two_ in the _morning_, Naruto. This is about as 'interested' as you're gonna get from me at this hour."

Naruto re-adjusted and secured his arms across his white-shirted chest and sheets. He wished he could just come right out and tell Sasuke his issues like he had done so many times in the past, but his problem at hand seemed so much more complicated. There were some conflicting emotions and more than a few questions he wanted to bring to the table. But, he questioned the way Sasuke would react. The brooding boy had become more sensitive than he had been of course years ago, but he was still Sasuke. It's just who he was. Naruto didn't want Sasuke to change who he was on his account.

"Yeah. I got that." Naruto muttered. He was frustrated; he just wanted someone to listen to him. But he knew it was an ungodly hour to expect anyone to lend him an ear. Yet, he decided to proceed in voicing his thoughts. "I've just been having some… weird thoughts."

"Oh, here we go."

"Not THOSE kinds of thoughts, Sasu-perv," Naruto replied angrily, thwapping Sasuke lightly on the head. "Just weird ones. Like… Like, have you ever thought that maybe y-you… You didn't exactly… deserve what you have? Or what you're getting?"

Sasuke cast Naruto a weary but sharp glare over his shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"NO! N-No, not like that! You're not doing anything wrong, I swear. Damn, I _knew_ this wasn't gonna come out right," Naruto cursed again under his breath and tried to gather his thoughts. "What I mean is… Have you ever felt like things just don't fit? That maybe you're in the wrong place? Like there's a puzzle, okay, with all these pieces already put together, and then there's that one last piece that is SUPPOSED to fit. It came in the box with all the other pieces, but for some reason, there's something wrong with it and it doesn't fit like it should?"

Sasuke took a second to try and register what Naruto had just said. The blond didn't have a very clear way of speaking, and unless you knew him well, it took a bit of patience to really get his meaning behind it.

"I think everyone feels that way at some time or another." Sasuke replied, hoping he had at least sated Naruto for the night.

"No, Sasuke. I'm not 'everyone', this is Naruto talking. Alright? I'm not a group of people, I'm _me_."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What…? What in the hell are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

Naruto's frustration with the entirety of the situation was starting to swell; what he was saying made sense in _his_ ears. He just couldn't voice it in a way to make Sasuke understand. He always felt like he had to nearly spell everything out for Sasuke to get it to sink in. He wasn't sure if Sasuke was really like that, or if he did it just to piss him off. Either way, Naruto just wanted the most special person in his life to at least try to understand what he was trying to say, even if no one else would.

"C'mon, just try to make sense of me, here."

"From what I've gathered, you're saying that you don't fit in."

"I… Well, that's KINDA it, but… Not… _AUUUGH_. Okay. Sasuke, just listen. I'm gonna talk and try to explain myself, so just listen." Naruto ran his hands through his messed hair and nervously on the blanket that covered his midriff. Sasuke sat up. "A long time ago, you didn't like me. That was a LOOONG time ago, obviously, but a long time ago, you hated me. You thought I was stupid, naïve, and would never live up to your standards. Now take what you thought at that time, dumb it down a bit, and fast forward six or seven years. Then multiply it by all our friends. Understand?"

Sasuke sighed and let the back of his head hit the headboard. He closed his eyes. "Naruto, do you think our friends hate you?"

"No! I don't think that!" Naruto's voice rose. "Why the hell would I think that?"

"You're talking around the problem. Why don't you just come out and say what the problem is for shit's sake?"

Naruto felt the muscles in his arms twitch. "Alright, fine! Listen. I feel like everyone still treats me like I'm still that twelve year old they used to know. They still treat me like I don't know anything and that they always have to teach me stuff I already know. They don't want to admit that I'm growing up. I'm almost twenty. It's like they still want me to be that twelve year old so they have someone to tease. They don't treat me like… like one of them."

Again, Sasuke tried to understand exactly what Naruto was saying, even though the blond had put it as bluntly as he could. "So… you feel as if everyone is against you."

"Not AGAINST me. Sasuke, dammit, quit thinking in such harsh and blunt terms. Please, you're the only one who really gets me. There's more than just black and white. Not everything is 'this OR that'. C'mon," Naruto moved closer to Sasuke and placed a hand on the headboard as if to stabilize himself. "I don't want them to treat me like that anymore. I'm damn tired of it. It's like they blatantly REFUSE to see any progress I've made whatsoever. They can't bring themselves to admit that I'm _not 'that' kid_. They keep teasing me and thinking less of me, and they don't want to stop. Why?"

"I think you're being paranoid."

"P-Paranoid?!"

"Naruto, why do you even care about what they think?" Sasuke lowered his eyelids and turned to the man he loved beside him. "I never knew you to be that sort of person."

Naruto's blond brows furrowed as the side of his head met the headboard, facing Sasuke. "Well, maybe you learned something about me just now that you didn't stop to think about before. See, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone still treats me like I'm a naïve idiot. I'm a person, I have feelings, whether you like it or not."

Both boys sat in silence for a moment. Words of solace were swamping Sasuke's mind in a rush, but none seemed to be just those right words. He wanted Naruto to stop acting so… un-Naruto-like. He didn't like it. Naruto was supposed to be his own personal sunshine, knocking sense into him when he himself started thinking nonsense like that. But when Naruto got like this… Sasuke didn't know how to be that sunshine. He just couldn't bring himself to say those right words with those sincere feelings like Naruto could. When Naruto consoled somebody, he _felt_ it. He could feel their feelings, their pain; he _became_ them and somehow knew how to make it all better. Like a medicated band-aid on a cut.

Sasuke couldn't do that. No doubt he had tried, but he just… couldn't. He wasn't a touchy-feely kind of guy, whereas Naruto would travel to the ends of the earth just for a hug or a pat on the shoulder. The black-haired boy suddenly felt a pang of confusion. All this time he thought he had Naruto figured out, when he really had a long way to go.

It was like Naruto had been gathering up all of the others' feelings he had healed in the past, and somehow took them upon himself.

What kind of person _did_ that? How could someone exist in the current world that they were living in, and still put others above themselves so much that they put their own stability at risk? All around him, Sasuke saw bitterness. Everyone was jaded, including himself. And the one person who deserved to be the most cynical of the bunch was not. Not in the slightest. How does a person like that even exist? Someone so strong and kindhearted, that wears their heart on their sleeve; someone that gets shot down every week by those around him who just don't _know_ him.

And that was where Naruto's problem lied, Sasuke realized. Naruto's question was simply 'Why?'. Why didn't they want to treat him as he felt he deserved? Why do they take pleasure in shooting him down? To stroke their own ego?

_How disgustingly selfish,_ Sasuke thought to himself. He hated to view their friends in that way, for they had done so much for them. But this was reality. This was human nature; shoot others down to boost yourself up. _But why Naruto? How could they do that to him?_

Was it as hard for them to believe that someone like Naruto existed? Was his helpfulness some sort of turn-off? They didn't want help and someone to care for them, they just wanted to wallow around in their own animosity? Was it all just 'pity me, pity me'?

Just what the hell was everyone's damned problem?

What stick was shoved so far up their ass that they tried to bring down the one person in the village that cared for them, despite how he treated them? They refused to let him grow up, and denied the fact that the blond ball of sunshine was maturing. In his own way, but it was still obvious the growth that he had gone through. Any moron could see that.

Sasuke felt his chest swell with anger. He was one of 'them'. He was one of the ones Naruto was talking about. But the boy was so concerned with ruining the one relationship he held so close to his heart that he wouldn't admit it.

Naruto was a tough shell to crack. To really, truly crack. Sasuke felt as if it was his job to get that boy to finally confide in him, without the fear of rejection. He had the sudden curiosity to find out what made Naruto, who many viewed as so one-dimensional, so complex.

"People… are ignorant."

"Hm?"

"They're just… _ignorant_." Sasuke firmly locked his own eyes with Naruto's. "It's that simple."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and replied in a low voice. "What exactly do you mean by 'ignorant'?"

"People these days don't want help, Naruto. What they want is pity. _Your_ pity."

"What the hell," Naruto scowled. "Sasuke, did you really listen to what I was saying at all?"

Sasuke smirked. "More than you think, I'm sure. Naruto, you're different."

"Oh, no shit."

"Seriously. For some reason, you don't think like the rest of us around here. And I'm puzzled as to why."

Naruto still sat leaning against the headboard, blank-faced. Sasuke couldn't tell whether Naruto was just listening intently, or he thought he thought Sasuke was out of his mind.

"You have a different way of thinking." Sasuke's voice remained quiet, low and calm. He had captured Naruto's gaze and was intent on keeping it. "You're not like most of those people outside that window. You're a true individual, something you should be proud of. I suppose the way you think can be revealed as somewhat threatening to the status quo."

Naruto lifted his head a bit and harshly pointed at himself. "How the hell am _I_ a threat to the status quo?"

"An individual mind has always been a threat to modern society. And you're not cynical, for one thing. Most of those people out there hold something in contempt and are looking for pity to feel… well, I'm not sure," Sasuke looked out the window for a moment, then back to Naruto. "To feel loved, maybe. To feel liked."

"Then," Naruto adjusted himself in his bed. "Why don't they just do something… I don't know, productive? If it's praise they're looking for?"

Sasuke himself now remained blank-faced. He didn't expect Naruto to take his view on humanity seriously. What he expected was a punch to the arm and a flat 'shut the hell up' before returning to dreamland.

"I…" Sasuke paused and chewed on his lip. "I don't know."

"Are you trying to say everyone treats me like shit because they're bitter or something?"

"It's complicated, Naruto. _You're_ complicated." Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes. "You're the most complicated person I know. I can't even begin to answer half your questions. It's the way life is. Some things just 'are'. I don't know how the hell you ended up the way you are and why you think so differently. I'm curious as to how you've even survived this long with the mind you have."

Naruto glanced down at his fingers and fidgeted with the end of his blanket. He sighed heavily and threw his arms out to his sides. "So what am I supposed to do, huh? It's not my fault if people would rather view me as someone I'm not. What am I supposed to do, pity them? Enable them? Let them think that way so they can continue to act the simple way they do?"

"No, that wouldn't be my first choice." Sasuke shook his head. "That'd be letting them walk all over you, like they think they have some personal right to do. Pitying them would be the last thing I would do."

"Too bad. Because I do pity them. Every single last fuckin' one of them. Just for thinking the way they do." Naruto ran a hand through his bright hair and leaned his back against his pillow. "I love all those people out there, but damn. I don't fit in here."

"Maybe you're what they need." Sasuke looked at Naruto through his peripheral vision. "The last piece of the puzzle."

The tanned boy thought over that statement. "I can't change the views of all mankind. Not if they would rather have my pity than my friendship."

"What about me?" Sasuke replied flatly. "I wanted more than your friendship; I wanted you."

"I doubt anyone else 'wants' me, Sasuke. Thanks for the thought, though."

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto. Everyone scoffs at your beliefs. They mistake your innocence for naïveté. They see your confidence as false hope. They don't understand you. They _envy_ what you have. Your only crime is being different from them. And they would rather commit suicide than admit that you have a better mind."

Naruto's mouth literally hung open.

"Close your mouth, dobe. You'll catch flies."

"I-I can't believe you're saying all of this."

Sasuke shifted further into his covers and shrugged. "Some things just need to be said."

"… How do you _know_ people so well? I mean, you certainly never gave _me_ a clue."

Sasuke scoffed as he felt himself give in to sleep. "That's ironic."

Naruto stared at the ceiling with curious blue eyes deep in thought. _Jealously_, was the first word that came to his mind. _Envy? Could've fooled me. I didn't think I thought_ that _much differently. _

'You're a true individual, something you should be proud of.'

'An individual mind has always been a threat to modern society.' 

So he was an individual. It was kind of cool to think that he was different, but then again, it kind of sucked. Did that mean he would never find the respect he had wanted so bad he would give anything for? After watching everyone around him worry so much about what they thought of each other, sacrificing what made **themselves** happy for the fear of being disliked and blending into the crowd; he didn't want to be like that. He _prayed_ he would never end up that way.

It was difficult to view his own friends, whom he deeply cared for, in such a negative light. Though now that it had come to his attention, it was relatively obvious. Everyone was different in his or her own unique way. And yet, were in so many ways the same. They didn't understand him, and he didn't understand them. They clashed. He almost went as far as to think humanity was against him altogether. But _he_ was human. He had a heart. A good heart. And he knew deep down, they did as well.

He still loved Sasuke and his friends with all his heart, even if they didn't understand each other. Mankind would never change. But as long as he was alive, he would make sure that it would always have a shoulder to cry on.


	5. Of Hidden Talents

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- I got the idea for this when I dropped and broke my battery charger while I was trying to make a sandwich (whoops). I started getting wierdly hyper halfway through this and had to chill out before I continued. Also, I don't own Imogen Heap, John Mayer or The Beatles. But that's so surprising, right?

* * *

**.5. Of Hidden Talents**

"_Aw, fuck_…"

"Not something I want to hear this early in the morning! Something happened! What did you do?"

Sasuke could practically feel the pupils of his eyes dilate as the bright fluorescent lighting of the hallway came on with the _click_ of a switch. The navy shades of the windows were all drawn, while every light in the small apartment had been turned off, up until that point. The dark eyed boy gritted his teeth and rubbed harshly at his eyes with the back of his hand, impatiently waiting for them to adjust.

"Hurry up, show me what you broke, idiot!" Sasuke inwardly winced at the hoarseness of his voice coated with sleep and lack of use within the previous night hours.

"Quit acting like this was all my fault and shut up! This was yours to begin with, you mofo. How about cleaning up after yourself next time instead of leaving your crap in the hallway for me to trip on!" an equally rough voice replied from the hallway.

Sasuke's face took on a bizarre expression at his new given 'nickname'. "You're one to talk. Just get in here already."

Naruto slowly wandered back into the bedroom, two pieces of a broken something in his tanned hands. It wasn't hard to tell that it was six-fifteen in the morning by the way the blond had trudged sluggishly into the room. And both of them knew that Sasuke had to get up at six-thirty anyway, and Naruto noted bitterly in his mind that Sasuke _really_ shouldn't have been complaining. After all, _his_ assigned mission was the next day; it was _Sasuke's_ turn to put food on the table that morning. Naruto had hoped to sleep in for once.

That hope crashed and burned when he tripped over the sharp edges that was Sasuke's CD.

The blond stopped in front of the bed and raised both pieces of the CD case (CD itself still intact) and his blue eyes read 'There, happy now?'

Sasuke held out his palm. "Give it."

Naruto lazily shoved the case into Sasuke's large fair-skinned hands and flopped onto the bed on his back, the bed responding with a loud _creak_. Naruto frowned, it probably wasn't the best idea considering how old his poor bed was, but it was too early in the morning to care.

"The front's totally cracked in half, what the hell did you do? Fall on it?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "I was innocently going to the bathroom _in the dark_, I might add, and that thing happened to be lying right in front of it. I stepped on it and slid and cracked my head on the doorframe and stop laughing at me. Stop it. This is about as funny as the time you got a nail through your foot in the freaking kitchen!"

"And if I remember right," Sasuke stopped sniggering and whacked Naruto with the salvaged back half of the case. "You wouldn't stop laughing about that for hours. So this must be pretty damn funny."

"Screw you, Chuckles! The Hulk Smash doesn't even COMPARE to the pain I'm going to induce on your poor excuse for a head later! So stop laughing and get your ass to the old lady or _she'll_ kill you for being late for a mission!" Naruto pointed right in Sasuke's face which Sasuke assumed was his form of intimidating, but he wasn't buying it. He rolled his eyes and set the broken CD on the small nightstand.

"Don't get your panties in a knot. I'm heading out soon enough." Sasuke planted a kiss on Naruto's nose and ruffled his sleep-tousled blond spikes. "That CD wasn't even _mine_, you dumbass."

Naruto smirked. "Yeah, sure. And I'm supposed to believe that the marvelous Uchiha Sasuke doesn't listen to—" he slid on his back across the bed with all the grace of a drunken sloth and attempted to make out the scrawl on the CD case's insert. "—A _compilation_ of Imogen Heap and John Mayer. By the way Sasuke-dear, was it that time of the month when you made this?"

Sasuke harshly prodded the small strip of exposed skin where Naruto's shirt had ridden up with a sharp finger and replied, "Any more cracks like that you'll become very acquainted with the couch tomorrow night. Keep pushin' it, I'm not lying."

"I don't doubt it, Sauce-cakes," A fang-bearing grin nearly reached his ears as Naruto pressed Sasuke's nose with his finger. "Keep me outta the room so you can listen to your woman tunes, right?"

Sasuke scowled as his face drew even closer to Naruto's and he prodded him harder. He was inwardly horrified as his facial muscles betrayed him and he smirked. "Keep talking, I dare you."

"You can't stay mad at me." Naruto quickly kissed Sasuke's thin lips. The black haired boy pulled away and walked towards the entryway of the bedroom.

"We'll see."

Without much of a second thought, Naruto scrambled to the head of the bed and quickly dove under the covers, noting how cold they had gotten without Sasuke's presence. He was disappointed, but took this as an opportunity to sprawl out on his back and take up as much space on the bed as he possibly could. He was seconds away from dreamland before Sasuke stuck his head back through the doorway.

"And you're going to fix that case, along with my clan's crest vase that you broke and said you would fix two weeks ago. I'll see you this evening."

Naruto _prayed_ Sasuke thought he was asleep and didn't hear a word he just said. But that was one of the downsides to being a ninja, and Sasuke knew. And Naruto _hated_ that. But without a retort, not feeling up to starting another argument, Naruto gave way to sleep and didn't plan on fixing any stupid vases for a good long while.

--

He had cut his finger again for—he had been counting—the sixth time.

"Son of a—" Naruto held his tongue and grit his teeth in pain as hard as he could. His growing frustration was not helping his temper and sure as hell wasn't helping him glue the CD case.

The blond boy had underestimated the difficulty of gluing a simple CD case back together. It was in only two pieces, how hard could it have been? But every time he placed any amount of pressure whatsoever to the tender, newly-glued pieces, they broke apart, slashing his poor fingers in the process. Dried glue had smeared all over the clear covering and began to flake, resulting in a rather nasty mess on the wooden kitchen table. 

Blue eyes narrowed as he wrapped yet another bandage around the injured digit, which was his right pointer finger this time around. He felt his ears grow hot in frustration as his cuts took a suspiciously long time to heal, as shallow cuts like these normally took a maximum of five minutes. But it had been fifteen since his first wound, and it wasn't even halfway sealed. His fingers stung as he tried to work with the broken shards and each cut he received made the process all the more frustrating and just plain tedious.

"What the hell's the matter with you, is this some sort of punishment?" Naruto yelled angrily in the general direction of his Kyuubi seal. "You have a real twisted sense of humor, you know that?"

Naruto glared at his fingers again, as if Kyuubi would finally decide to stop laughing at him and heal him properly. But nothing happened.

"Would it _kill_ him to just find another damn CD case?" Naruto grabbed the two halves of the case once more and began splattering glue on one jagged edge. Long ago had he given up on being neat. "Oh, this is supposed to be punishment, right? My mistake."

With shaking hands Naruto managed to call up enough patience to gently piece together the broken case. He set the case on the table before he could destroy it again, and began to slowly work his fingers around the hair-thin break. He smoothed the glue as softly as he could, mending the split. Naruto stared at his handy work. _Not bad,_ he thought. _I'll wash the rest of the glue off when this dries._

Blue eyes wandered around the table, to the right of him being the seemingly hundreds of purple blue-speckled shards. Each one had once made up the Uchiha crest vase that had sat in one corner of the living room, beside one of Naruto's treasured plants. He could recall his unsteady legs as he tried to avoid tripping over his plant and hit the vase instead. Sasuke had been the definition furious, and Naruto had been a little surprised when Sasuke, despite his overwhelming anger at the loss of his family heirloom, still fussed over Naruto and his bleeding cuts. 

"I guess I owe him this." Naruto replied flatly to himself, chewing nervously on his thumbnail. "Might as well try to make _something_ out of it."

He reached over and turned the volume knob of his small CD player. The soft playing music increased its volume, and Naruto tried to let his anger become calmed by the melodic guitar and soft beat of the music. He sighed heavily as he pulled the pile of shards towards himself and frowned. It was like putting together one of those 3D puzzles he had owned when he was a child. And even at the time he wasn't particularly fond of it, but it had been one of his first gifts from the late Sandaime, so he was eager to finish the puzzle and make the old man proud of him. Now that he thought about it, this was very reminiscent of that particular time.

Naruto cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair, tugging harshly at the bright blond strands. He began to pick up the broken pieces and piece them together, trying to find what fit where. The music began to help his nerves considerably. It was the CD that he had tripped on earlier, and he discovered that what he dubbed 'PMS music' wasn't so bad after all. The mix was calming and was perfect for a situation like this. Though he did discover that he was _not_ one for Imogen Heap, and after one and a half of those songs, he quickly pressed the skip forward button and moved on to another artist. He found himself enjoying John Mayer music quite a bit, and ended up listening to a few of the songs numerous times. Sasuke always hated it when he put songs on repeat, but today he had the apartment all to himself and could listen to whatever he pleased.

Once he felt he knew the lyrics well enough, Naruto began to sing a few of them to himself to help disperse the silence of the small apartment. He had fallen back into an old habit of singing when he was alone to make the time fly faster and make himself less nervous. When he had been around six years old, he had received his second gift; an old, cheap radio where he would listen to all kinds of music. The very few stations in the area featured mostly local bands, but they played a wide range of music genres. He listened to pop, rock, rap (that was one phase he was glad he outgrew), and any other genre the local station was willing to play. Naruto had started off singing very quietly to himself, so as to not annoy his neighbors in fear of getting his radio taken away. But he soon found out that his old yellowing walls were actually quite sturdy, and did manage to keep the sound of his voice from entering other apartments. So he would sing as loud as he felt like, and it got him through those days he knew he would have to spend in the small apartment alone.

Naruto knew he wasn't the best singer in the world, but he assumed he was decent. He had never sung in front of anyone else, so he never received an opinion. He could tell when he was off and sometimes his voice cracked in odd places, so he didn't think it was anything to brag about. It was only a way to get through a long day in a lonely apartment. Since Sasuke had moved in, he hadn't done much more than hum to himself while cooking ramen or sing in the shower. He was pretty sure Sasuke couldn't even hear him over the loud run of the water.

After about forty-five minutes, Naruto was surprised that he had made some progress. The base of the vase was finished and drying, awaiting the remaining pieces. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he felt a renewed vigor urge him to continue. He couldn't wait to see the look on Sasuke's face when he discovered that he had actually managed to put the vase back together.

He stopped singing as the song came to an end, and continued his work. A new song began to play, and he noted that it had a different sound than the previous few. It was upbeat and didn't sound recent, but it sounded like what he used to hear on his little radio years ago. With a wave of nostalgia, he listened to the music intently. It was catchy, and so were the next few songs. He wasn't sure of the artist or why the music hadn't been labeled, but it began to grow on him.

--

"Naruto?"

The blond stopped singing abruptly, embarrassed that he had just been caught singing his heart out to the quiet, empty apartment. But the vase was near completion, not exactly perfect due to a few small shards missing.

"Er—Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto sputtered, shutting off the music, quickly standing and walking over to Sasuke who had just walked into the room. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto's poor bandaged hands as he lifted them into view. "See this? This is what I do for you. Look at this."

Sasuke rolled his dark eyes and brought Naruto in for a kiss. He was dead tired from his mission, and all he wanted to do was feel the cool sheets wrapped around his body so he could sleep. But he had a feeling that Naruto was going to get on his case about making him work with sharp pointed objects all day.

"You'll be glad to know that Kyuubi has refused to heal me all day, so your punishment had its full effect," Naruto replied lowly. He motioned to the table. "But I managed to glue your vase back together. … Sorta."

Sasuke eyed the mass of glue and purple and Uchiha symbols that was sitting on the table. It… sort of regained its original shape, but missing pieces left the vase a lot to be desired. Sasuke was typically quick to anger, but in his current state he could only manage a loud sigh and a slump of the shoulders. He scratched at his hair.

"Looks good," he replied sarcastically.

"Excuse you, this is what I've been doing _all day_ and that's all you have to say? I know it's not _perfect_ or whatever, but come on!"

Sasuke shook his head and faintly ran a finger over the top of the vase. "No… I'm glad you worked on it. Honestly, I didn't really expect you to."

"Wh… You didn't think I would?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and glared. "Wow, trust is a wonderful thing."

"Shut up, idiot. I'm glad you fixed it," Sasuke pulled Naruto in for a second kiss, grinning when he felt Naruto's rough, bandaged fingers grab for his hair and scratch at his neck.

Naruto felt hunger rumble through his stomach and he pulled away, ruffling Sasuke's matted black locks in the process. "Go back and take a shower, I'll make dinner for us. And you can do whatever you want with the vase when it dries, but you should probably put it on a shelf or something. Probably in a closet somewhere, since it's ugly as all hell."

"True." Sasuke laughed tiredly.

"Oh, just go!" Naruto pushed the taller boy towards the shower.

--

Both boys were in bed, stomachs full and ready for sleep. Naruto had a mission early in the morning and it was Sasuke's turn to sleep in. The blond wished Sasuke broke something of his so he would have to sit on his ass all day trying to glue it back together as he had done. But Sasuke was blessed with a little more grace, and the Uchiha had yet to break anything important of his.

As the two settled in, Naruto wrapped an arm protectively around the other's chest and stared tiredly at the mass of black hair. He felt Sasuke's deep voice reverberate in his chest as he spoke. "How come you don't sing for me?"

Naruto blinked in mild surprise. "Uh, no reason, really. I just don't."

"Would you?" Sasuke asked, voice rasping drowsily.

The tanned boy paused. "I don't know… I'm not that special or anything. I only do it to pass the time."

"So if I asked you honestly to sing for me, you wouldn't do it?"

There was another long pause as Naruto fidgeted lightly with the folds in Sasuke's nightshirt. He supposed if anyone were to ever hear him sing, he would prefer Sasuke be the first. He licked his dry, chapped lips and sighed through his nose. He recalled the lyrics he had heard numerous times that day and the song he had on repeat.

"_Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you; remember I'll always be true_," Naruto sang at a slightly slower tempo than the original, but the song had been within his range and was easier for him to sing in Sasuke's ear. "_And then while I'm away, I'll write home every day; and I'll send all my loving to you_. I feel sappy now."

"You have a nice voice, idiot. I'm kind of surprised." Sasuke smiled, now trapped between being conscious and sleep. Naruto's warm breath on his neck and the tone of his voice was mesmerizing and seemed to work as a sleeping aid. He subconsciously wanted to feel it again. "Keep going."

Without much thought, the blond boy shifted slightly and picked up at the chorus. "_All my loving, I will send to you; all my loving, darling, I'll be true. Close your eyes and I'll kiss you; tomorrow I'll miss you; remember I'll always be true. And then while I'm away, I'll write home every day; and I'll send all my loving to you._"

Naruto continued shortly until deep breaths showed Sasuke had fallen asleep. He soon followed suit and found himself giving away to sleep. He decided that maybe this wasn't such a bad routine after all.


	6. What We Know

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- I am officially the portable music player killer. I just got the Apple of Death on my iPod. FOR ONCE, can't I just like, LISTEN to my music without having it crap out after a few months?! -tries to fix iPod- I don't know why Apple would use their own logo as a death sentence.

This drabble is WAAAAY different from the others, and I don't know WHAT I was smoking. It's AU, and it just came to me out of the blue. I blame it on an Easter Egg I ate today that was half-blue from the dye we used on it. I would love to somehow turn it into a chaptered story, but I don't have a plot, and unfortunately my laziness may come into play. But don't be surprised if it shows up in the future. But before you start reading, PLEASE read this first:

This is in **POV format**, meaning it switches between Naruto and Sasuke's POV. The POV's are separated by a fricking bar, because FF is messing with my style again. The pattern is always Naruto, Sasuke, Naruto, Sasuke. I was hoping their speech patterns would be enough to tell the two apart, but if anyone has real difficulty with it, let me know and I'll fix it. Any **bold words** are what both of them are thinking at the same time. The ending is going to be confusing, but it's sorta supposed to be. Naruto starts us off.

**.6. What We Know**

I cannot STAND the sound of that fricking alarm. Though, I did have enough sense to change it from the annoying buzzer alarm to the radio a little while back. Since I preferred to not have a heart attack every morning. So instead of waking up to excruciating pain in my inner ear, I now wake up to painfully perky radio hosts telling me that I'm going to have a wonderful day because the weather is good.

While they are telling me this interesting piece of news, I'm usually trying to smother myself with one of my pillows; hoping I'll suffocate and my mom can call me in dead. Sometimes I just scream into my pillow instead. Sometimes I scream _without_ the pillow, and that results in my mom having to haul ass upstairs and smack me around a little to shut me up.

I'm a selective morning person. If I have to wake up early to go somewhere I want to go, I'm perfectly fine. But when it's six a.m. and I'm getting up for _school_, or just generally being forced to do something I don't particularly _want to_, screw cheery. Screw the radio hosts. Screw the _sun_.

But I promise, mornings are the peak of my bad side. Catch me on a day when I get enough sleep (and school's not involved), and I'll probably be your best friend.

So this was one of those mornings; I wake up in my fair-sized room, sparsely decorated with posters of bands and anime and pictures of my friends and me. I have a computer that's about a year old glaring at me from its perch across from my bed, as well as a small starter drum set and electric guitar reminiscent of my failed attempt as a rock star. A few books, clothes all over the wooden floor (I have a floor?), some Gundam figure things… That's my pad in a nutshell. The only thing out of the ordinary could be my giant fluffy orange comforter. Because I do love my orange.

I wallowed a little in said orange comforter, listening to the radio personality go on about how there was a fifty-four percent chance of rain but Mr. Sun was shining so brightly, she didn't think it would even let Mr. Rain-cloud enter its territory, goshdarnit!

How I wanted to THROTTLE that woman.

I didn't scream, didn't try to smother myself; I just decided to lie there pitifully. Anxiously too, because I knew the stomping of my mother's feet would soon be heard storming up the stairs, and hands flexing at the chance to rip off my blankets and grab painfully at my ears. Only once has she actually tilted the mattress and forcefully dumped me off it. She thought I was faking sick. I wasn't. I gained four pounds that day from all the cookies she shoved down my throat in apology.

Reverting back to my childhood days of hiding from my parents, I performed the old 'if I can't see them, they can't see me' approach. I dove under the covers as much as I could and put the pillow right over my head, marking my burial. No freaking way was I going to school that day.

Loud stomps from the stairs; I knew there would be pain. There was no quelling my mom's fiery temper, but I had learned to deal with it over the years. I've told her numerous times this was borderline child abuse, but she just responds by saying that kids these days are wimps. But mom has her moments, hence the cookies. She could be bipolar.

She sometimes says the reason she acts like this is to protect me. I don't fully get that. She says if I can take what she dishes out, I can handle anything. But again, she still has that soft side, and can sometimes get overprotective. In a way she's trying to prepare me for the outside world as much as she can, but at the same time doesn't really want me to go out in it. It's _sooo_ complicated, I don't even wanna think about it.

Dad says the only reason she acts this way is because I was a preemie, and she's always paranoid that I'll contract some strange disease because of it. (Note that it was probably all her stress that caused me to be born premature in the first place.) But all it's given me is a slight learning disability and left me vertically challenged. But I'm seventeen-and-a-half, and have yet to keel over from any preemie diseases. Mom says I had AOP, which is apparently some sort of breathing disorder that goes away quickly, so she even tries to pull _that_ card. And force vitamins on me.

And then I have to remind her that I'm SEVENTEEN. And I barely even get colds.

So my mom worries over nothing, but still decides to, y'know, kick my ass every now and again. My dad doesn't do that; he's a good guy. He's not around very often because of his work, and he sometimes goes on business trips to far away states. But he always tries to be with me when he can. He and my mom are like polar opposites, and sometimes it's hard to understand how they got together in the first place. I know they weren't married when I 'happened', but they did get married before I was born for whatever reason (hence Mom complaining about looking fat in all her wedding pictures).

I have a different kind of bond with each of my parents. I love both of them equally, but in different ways. People say I'm a carbon copy of my parents, and adults often call me either 'little Kushina' or 'little Minato'. They say I have my mom's attitude, her personality, her eyes (though both my parents have similar eyes), her nose, her freckles, her 'adorable' cheeks, or I have my DAD'S eyes, his complexion, his hair, his figure, his smile, whatever. So apparently I'm some sort of clone freak, which is always good to hear. But my parents have reassured me that I wasn't the result of some scientific experiment gone awry.

Sometimes it's hard to escape my parents' shadow, with my dad as successful as he is. But whatever, I take what gets thrown at me and deal with it. It pisses me off GREATLY, but throwing hissy fits aren't going to do me any good. So I don't. I'm sure the world's a better place because of it.

I'm just looking for some sort of stability. Things are constantly changing and I need something or someone to just BE there for me. I just need someone to rely on, to complain to.

And I think… maybe I've found that person. And I don't think my mom will be thrilled.

* * *

I really, _really_ don't like early mornings. I'm not a morning person in the least, so I have a hard time getting my ass in gear. But I don't have much of a say in the matter, so instead of laying there like a lump, I eventually become coherent enough to complete my morning rituals.

Rarely does it get so bad that my older brother (and I use that term _loosely_) has to come to my room and shake me awake. But when he does, he doesn't stay for long and eventually gives up, and then says that he doesn't give a shit about my future. But I know he really does, he just doesn't want to say it. He's my legal guardian as of late, but I'm just months away from turning eighteen. Then he can get me off his back.

My dad died only recently, about a year ago, so it's still fresh in my mind. The whole situation is just unsettling, due to the fact that the doctors were completely stumped as to what the cause of his death actually was. Of course they found little problems here and there that they believed ultimately added up to his death, but the actual root cause was unknown. It was so quick, so out of the blue, that I always feel that there's unfinished business. Not only between us, but also between him and the rest of the world. It couldn't have been his time. I will always have that feeling.

I've tried to talk to Itachi about the situation over dinner, but all I can guess is that it's still raw in his mind, too. We exchange a few sentences, me trying my best to express myself, but the conversation always ends unfinished.

So every other Wednesday, I end up with the psychologist. Not because I'm nuts or anything, but because of my dad's death, my brother's version of what he calls 'raising', and my mother's death. It's all right, I'm not gonna lie. I've always hated talking about my feelings because I don't like the vulnerability that goes along with it. But these people listen to me without the repercussions that come with telling a friend or someone else. There's no backlash, they can't use the information against me, so I spill my guts. Of course I don't tell them everything, but enough so the weight in my chest doesn't feel as heavy.

It's… okay.

I don't quite understand why they put my mom in this bundle of issues, because I hardly knew her. Would I liked to have? Yes. But unfortunately, she was taken from us before I had the chance. My father said she died from lasting complications she obtained from childbirth. I've always told myself that I wasn't the cause of her death (though in reality, I sort of was), and I've done my best to not blame myself. But she died from complications giving birth to _me_, and the facts are hard to deny. My dad said once that she wanted to have me and would do anything to keep me alive, and this is what she wanted for me. So there was no reason to blame myself. But, it's so _obvious_.

I've heard that I look like her, more so than my father. Neither my brother nor I have the most muscular of figures or strong facial features, which is why I believe I'm told this. I'm told I have her eyes, her nose, her complexion, her face and her sense of responsibility. My dad had actually told me once that it was sometimes hard to look at me, because I reminded him so much of her. He said he could always see her in my eyes. He said there was something in me he didn't see in Itachi. I guess Itachi is more like my father.

That could explain why he often seemed to favor Itachi over me.

It's something I used to take personally when I was a child, fearing that I just wasn't good enough or that Itachi was just _better_. I felt so inadequate. But that one talk with my father changed my perspective of our family, because it was the first time he told me about my mom. He made me feel special.

It was the start of a real connection with my father. And just when I finally felt we had something, he was gone. Just like that. No last words for me, no goodbye, nothing.

So I was left with Itachi as my guardian. The only one in my family I felt I had no connection with. 'Awkward' doesn't even BEGIN to describe the situation.

But I met someone that could deal with my emotional baggage better than any psychologist. It just takes a friend, I guess. He's an annoying-ass blond that can either bring the sunshine or send it packing with his ridiculously sarcastic attitude. I can't tell who's harder to handle, him or his mother. Every time I go to his house, it's like World War Three. She's either smacking him around or hugging and begging him not to go somewhere. Sometimes I wonder if my mom would be like that, but I highly doubt it.

He's got some issues; I'd be worried if he didn't. But he's told me that he doesn't really care about his family relationships, as long as they're together. A blind person could tell they love him, and I would give anything to be a part of that. When I'm with him, it's like I've regained what I've lost. And it just feels right.

Naruto tells me things about himself that he tells no one else. Occasionally I do the same. He talks about how his mother seems to only view him as her freaky-clone-punching bag-possibly-bisexual-preemie-baby and practically smothers him constantly. I tell him about my weekly Itachi problems, and even the whole deal with my dad. And it's just something I don't understand, because opening up to someone other than a psychologist is like getting Itachi to make dinner. It just doesn't happen.

And he actually _listens_.

* * *

He's got that smile that gets to me. I know, I know, _Sasuke's_ smile? Like… it _exists_? But there it is, right in front of me, plain as day. And it's so nice how it somehow just FITS his face. You would think that it would be hard to picture that kid smiling like he does, but when you actually see it, you see how it looks like it's supposed to be there. That blank expression he usually has doesn't seem to fit anymore.

From what he's told me, I assume that's his mother in him. A frown fits that bastard brother of his, it doesn't fit Sasuke. I've _seen_ it; I solely believe that. I've gone as far as to tell him that. And though I don't get much of a response, that lack of response tells me that it's something he needed to hear. He WANTS that connection with his mother. I've seen the way he looks at my mom and I when she's beating my ass, and it's no longer shock. He wants that bond with his mother that he never got to have. I told him if he wants my mom to give me a break and take a swipe at him, feel free.

And then he smiles. It's not a big smile, but I know it's a smile because his lips are stretched even thinner and he's got those dimples that I'm starting to take a liking to. It's a sign that he's being sincere and his true feelings are beginning to show. When he smiles, he's not hiding. And that's why it looks good on him.

* * *

He's just got those kind of eyes that seem to be stuck in permanent mild surprise. Not wide enough to look bizarre, but big enough, and it's all a part of who he is. Big eyes, big heart, big smile; all sort of trapped in a small package. He's the kind of person who can light up a dimly lit room and whose smile is contagious. He seems to have something nice to say about everyone, no matter how they act towards him. I'm guessing this came from his mother.

Everything about him screams sunlight, even though his attitude less so at times. But it's an amazing feeling to meet someone like him, and at first, you almost think there's something wrong with him. But he's genuine. It's who he is. And it's weird how opposites like us attract, but he says his parents are the same way.

I'm starting to notice little things about him and how I've grown to notice the small details. It's awkward and nice and foreign at the same time; a bizarre kind of rush that makes me almost want to kiss him. Right on the nose.

* * *

And I know that my mom was afraid of this, but I know she can deal. This is a test for all of us, like she says she's always giving me. But I can't help it. I see his smile and I just… feel so _sappy_ and odd and I almost _want_ to kiss the guy. I'm looking at him and he's _right there_. I need to say something to get this tension to stop. I just can't take this awkward silence that came outta nowhere, and I've got to say _something_.

* * *

The tension is driving me _insane_. But what do you do in a situation like this? I don't even… What do you _say_? This is one of the most uncomfortable situations I've ever been in…

* * *

I can see his face getting closer to mine. PANIC is setting in. I want to make the first move. I know he could reject me, but at least I could say I didn't back down from the situation. But, I don't want him to go. He's my stability.

* * *

I-I can't even think. I didn't think I even had the ability to feel the way I do. He's messing with my head. But one kiss won't hurt. Unless, there's rejection… Which he wouldn't do, right?

* * *

Enough is ENOUGH! My heart is about to explode! I don't want to die from a heart attack before I get my first kiss!

* * *

I'm going for it. My lips are already halfway there. Just on the nose.

* * *

Just real quick on the lips…

* * *

**Kissed…**

* * *

On the _lips_?

* * *

I did it… Where's that smile at?

* * *

I kissed him on the lips.

* * *

I-I see it!

* * *

**And he didn't run away.**


	7. Of Primary Colors

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- Thank you all who stuck with me last chapter in my temporary moment of insanity. I think I finally got it all out of my system.

* * *

**.7. Of Primary Colors**

"No!"

Sasuke huffed at the sharp, pouted reply. It sounded ridiculously childish and silly when spoken by someone with such a deep tone of voice. But when Naruto said it, it seemed to fit, no matter how deep his voice had gotten. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the blond boy motherly protecting a small something in a plastic bag. He could make out the barest hint of a smirk on the suntanned face, which only made Sasuke want to see the contents of the bag all the more.

He made another grab for it.

"Hey!" came a quick reply. "Get your own bag."

Naruto made a big show of turning away from Sasuke and proceeding to strut down the small, narrow hallway.

"Why do you always do this?" Sasuke said lowly through clenched teeth. "Why does everything you bring home have to be some sort of 'surprise'? You're the only person I know who considers bringing home a gigantic value pack of Pocky a fantastic surprise."

The whiskered boy walked into the bathroom, set his bag on the sink and looked at Sasuke with (what he hoped was) big cornflower-blue puppy eyes. "You don't like my surprises, Sasuke? Aw…"

"The 'eyes' don't work anymore. Now you just look ridiculous. Stop it."

"Geez, what poor unfortunate creature crawled up your ass, Sasuke?" Naruto sneered, turning on the faucet and rinsing his hands. "Someone must have taken a giant crap in _your_ Cocoa Puffs this morning."

Dark eyes rolled as Sasuke stormed down the small hallway to capture whatever Naruto was holding hostage. Judging by the way the blond was trying to hide it, it could only mean it was destructive or could result in one of their deaths in some way, shape or form. Sasuke was determined to stop whatever plan Naruto had conjured up before he wound up having to pay for something.

"Hey," Naruto snapped again and slapped at Sasuke's fair-skinned hand, which had quickly reached for the bag. "Don't touch, you bastard. You'll appreciate the art of it later, I promise."

"Famous last words." Sasuke spat, pointing a finger right in Naruto's face. "You better tell me what the hell is in that bag, Naruto. I want to know just what you're gonna do ahead of time. I don't want to be a part of the clean-up committee for the colossal mess you're no doubt gonna make."

Naruto scoffed comically as he set down the hand towel he was using to dry his hands. "Sasuke, you're too paranoid for your own good. You _really_ need to start trusting me more! I already told you, haul your ass outta here and I'll show you later—"

Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulders and shoved him forcefully into the nearest wall. Naruto cringed at the sudden impact, but quickly recovered and returned the action with narrowed blue eyes and flat lips.

"What the hell, Sasuke?-!"

"You tell me what's in that bag _right now_, or God help me, I will pull your pea-sized brain right out through your belly button."

Naruto's eyes widened considerably as he pondered on the possible outcome. Dismissing the fact that it was physically impossible, the blond boy decided that the look in Sasuke's eyes posed enough of a threat on their own. He glared at the long finger pointed directly at his nose, and quickly made a move to bite it. Sasuke snatched his finger away before the sharp, white teeth could clamp down on it.

"Alright. _Fine._" Naruto replied through clenched teeth, roughly shoving the long arm that was pinning his shoulder to the wall aside. He walked over to the sink, tanned hands wrapping around the opening of the plastic bag. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I didn't wanna tell you what I was doing, because I figured you'd either ridicule me until my ears bled or try to stop me from trying to retain what's left of my manly pride."

"Is it _that_ bad?" Sasuke crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his right foot.

"You tell me."

Roughened tanned hands reached into the bag and pulled out a relatively small box. He held it up and Sasuke carefully read the label. Naruto's eyebrows rose as Sasuke's eyes grew vastly in size as he read the fine white print.

"No. Oh, no. You are NOT dying your hair."

"I _have_ to, Sasuke. I don't have a choice. I lost a bet."

Sasuke's hands rose and Naruto briefly thought the slightly taller boy was preparing to wring his scrawny neck. "Tell me this involves Kiba in any way and I'm throwing you out the window."

"What's with all the threats?" Naruto smirked slyly. "Simmer down a little! And yeah, this was all that mutt's fault. But being the clever guy I am, I only bought temporary coloring. It'll totally fade in a couple of washes. Kiba was an idiot and didn't actually see me buy the dye."

"Why do you always pull this shit with him?" Sasuke leaned against the bathroom entryway, arms folded over his broad chest. "You _always_ lose. I'll bet Kiba's laughing it up wherever he is right now. Where's your common sense?"

Naruto slumped slightly. "Oh, shut up. Just let me do this, alright?" He ripped open the box and began to set its' contents onto the porcelain edge of the white sink. He waggled his eyebrows. "Besides, it might look hot, you never know. You like redheads, Sasuke?"

"Naruto, you know what yellow and red make?"

"Oh, let's go back to my kindergarten days for a sec," Naruto began to slip on the gloves that came with the kit and prepared to mix the coloring ingredients together. "Purple?"

"_Orange_, you idiot. Your hair isn't going to be red; it's going to be orange. Especially with a cheap dye like this." Sasuke muttered sagely advice from his safe spot away from the toxic-smelling chemicals Naruto had begun to mix like some sort of mad scientist.

Naruto sneered as he began to shake up the mixture he created in the small squirt bottle. "My hair is blond, not _yellow_, moron. Gosh."

The dark-haired man couldn't muster up even the smallest response. _He's got to be joking_, Sasuke thought to himself. After a short silence, he shook his head.

"Well, aren't you in for quite the surprise."

"Out, out, _out_!"

Sasuke soon found himself being pushed by two strong, tanned arms towards the living room. He didn't bother to fight it; he figured it best that he got out of there as soon as possible. After reaching the living room, Naruto gave him a little shove for good measure, darted back into the bathroom and then slammed the door. Sasuke heard a small _click_ indicating he had locked the door shortly after.

The dark-eyed boy could only shake his head slowly, almost positive that this whole ordeal would end in some form of disaster. But, it wasn't as if he hadn't warned the blond, right? If Naruto wasn't worried about his locks turning into a monstrous shade of bright orange, then Sasuke decided he shouldn't be, either. With one final glare at the wooden bathroom door, Sasuke slipped onto the rough material of their cherished ugly-colored couch and reached for the discarded magazine at the other end. A pearly canine nibbled at the soft flesh of his bottom lip as he hurriedly flipped through a few pages.

He sighed.

He would have to walk around the village with the loudmouthed boyfriend who dyed his hair bright orange. Sasuke suddenly didn't find the idea too appealing.

- -

A few scurried footsteps, sharp cries, slams of objects meeting the floor and running water later, Sasuke heard silence, then a dull thud. The two boys had slammed each other's skulls into walls enough times to know that the dull crack was the distinct sound of head-meeting-wall. Another brief silence washed over the apartment. Then the silver-colored doorknob jiggled and Sasuke's ears perked.

The door opened just a crack and Sasuke saw a small half of Naruto's face peering out; most likely to see if Sasuke was still there, he figured. He began to step out and Sasuke mentally prepared himself for the gloating sure to take place at the sight of Naruto's mop of fresh orange hair. The tall previously blond boy started down the hallway, donning a loose-fitting orange sweatshirt, the hood up and completely covering his hair. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in an obvious 'I told you so' manner.

"Well," Sasuke stood from the couch and stretched, and dusted off his dark-washed jeans. "Something not go exactly as we planned, hm?"

He could barely see Naruto's blue eyes under the hood, but the slight twitching of flat, slightly pink lips and whisker marks was all the confirmation Sasuke needed. He crossed his arms over his chest and replied flatly, "Do I get to see or are you just going to stand there all day looking like you just robbed a convenience store?"

Naruto frowned heavily at the naked feeling of his pride being peeled away piece by piece. Long fingers twitched at his sides and a low growl escaped his throat.

"Naruto, stop acting like a child. Let me see what you did." Sasuke made a quick grab for the hood, but Naruto countered by grabbing his hand before it could clasp onto the material. Sasuke used his other hand to fake him out, and pretended to grab with that hand, and Naruto flailed a bit as he tried to keep both of Sasuke's hands at bay. After a minute of tussling, Sasuke managed to grab onto the very top of the hood and yanked it down with one swipe.

Sasuke blinked, nearly at a loss for words. Naruto froze, nose scrunched up in anger and breathing heavily. Sasuke's mouth opened and closed, vaguely resembling a fish. "W-Wow."

"Oh, shut _up_," Naruto snapped, squaring his jaw. "You were totally wrong. My hair didn't turn orange."

"Like white is any BETTER? What the hell did you do?" Sasuke almost yelled and ran a hair through Naruto's slightly damp shaggy locks, which were now an odd, very slightly cream-colored white. Not a blond hair was left on his head.

"I swear, I did _everything_ right! Everything! I read the instructions, I wore the glove things, I-I mixed stuff, put it on, waited…" Naruto rattled the list off his fingers. "… There's no WAY that I can be blamed for this! I followed the damn instructions to a 't'!"

"Well apparently you screwed _something _up, big surprise! I warned you that this was a terrible idea, and you should know by now that anything that spews from Kiba's mouth is bullshit," Sasuke scolded, slightly frustrated with the result of Naruto's hair. He was already starting to miss its original color. "Damn, Naruto."

The white-haired teen defiantly pulled up his hood once more, hiding his eyes from view. "Yeah, well, I did the bet. And after I turn Kiba into a virgin sacrifice to the hair coloring gods, you better believe we'll be fifty bucks richer."

Sasuke watched Naruto leave the apartment and slam the door.

--

"Where's my fifty bucks?" Sasuke asked nonchalantly as Naruto walked through the door. His hood was surprisingly down, there was a hint of dried blood accenting the corner of his mouth and a bit on the front of his sweatshirt, and there was a fairly large rip on the right sleeve, showing a bit of tanned skin.

Sasuke glared at the sight and lightly scratched his nose. "No money, eh?"

"No, but Kiba's sure having fun with that giant pole I rammed up his ass."

"And there's no money because?" Sasuke asked from his seat on the couch.

Naruto ruffled his white hair a bit, trying to tame it down to its natural mess. "He didn't think I'd do it, of course. I told him that because it was white he should pay interest. But naturally, _that_ didn't work. He realized how big of an ass he looked not keeping his end of the deal, so he decided to make up for it by punching me in the face. Then I just returned the favor."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm so sorry I missed this. But, let that be a lesson to you. You know better than to listen to that guy every time he wants to make some stupid bet. You always get hopelessly sucked in."

"You could have backed me up, y'know."

Sasuke raised a black eyebrow. "Would you have even wanted me to come?"

Naruto went silent.

"Right."

Sasuke expected Naruto to bristle at the comment and punch the living daylights out of him, but instead he strolled right over to the couch where he sat and started to press his body against his. Sasuke felt himself lowering back onto the couch as Naruto bit down on the tender flesh of Sasuke's bottom lip. He chewed on it roughly, but not enough to draw blood. Sasuke bit back a shout at the slight abuse his lips were receiving.

Sasuke did manage to fight back, however, by giving Naruto's lips the same treatment. Naruto leaned forward and almost arrogantly pressed Sasuke into the couch, attempting to take back control. Minutes passed as it soon came to a battle of tongues and dominance, and ended shortly after Naruto became too carried away and bit Sasuke's.

"I'm not a _masochist_, you idiot," Sasuke remarked after a small yell had escaped his lips.

Naruto pulled away and sat up, actually quite satisfied. He laughed at the position Sasuke was currently in, stretched out on the couch while Naruto nearly sat on his legs. It couldn't have been comfortable for Sasuke, but he said nothing. Sasuke glanced at Naruto and his white hair. He admitted to himself that Naruto really didn't look that bad. In fact he was almost exotic looking, with his tanned skin, bright blue eyes and now white hair. But it still wasn't the same, and Sasuke made a mental note to make sure Naruto took at least ten showers that night to remove the white.

Naruto's stomach growled lightly and he pressed his palm against it to quiet it. He leaned over where he was sitting until he was almost flat against Sasuke, noses nearly an inch away. He narrowed his eyes. "Food. Now."

"Since when am I your maid?" Sasuke scowled. Naruto nipped at Sasuke's nose. "Augh! Fine! Get off, I can't get up."

Naruto slid off the couch and onto the floor. Sasuke stood, joints popping as he stretched and felt liberated from Naruto's weight on top of him. They were almost equal in weight and Naruto was easy to support, but it was still was less than comfortable to have an almost full-grown man sitting right on his legs.

Sasuke watched Naruto scramble up from the floor. "You're such a pain in the ass."

"Yes, but I'm _your_ pain in the ass." Naruto replied, briefly studying his poor ripped sweatshirt. "And you're a pain in mine. Fair?"

The fair-skinned boy rubbed at his forehead. "Yeah, sure."

Both traveled into the kitchen where Sasuke would attempt to polish his cooking skills and Naruto would sit in a chair with his feet on the table, making napkin paper airplanes and watching Sasuke's backside as he bent over to pull things out of the oven.


	8. Of Tough Questions

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- I have a few more drabbles coming soon that are half-completed. This one takes place a couple years before the previous drabbles. :)

* * *

**.8. Of Tough Questions**

"Iruka-sensei, what's your take on, um… h-homosexuality?"

A phrase Iruka never thought he would hear in all his years of being an educator. He had prepared for giving "The Talk", of course (a bullet he dodged that Kakashi had been hit by), but not this. Especially from his blond former-student. Quite frankly, those were the LAST words he had ever expected to hear from Naruto. This would be an awkward situation indeed.

The dark-haired man took a moment to swallow his instant noodles properly, making sure they didn't venture down his windpipe. Naruto must have misread the long pause as anger or maybe disappointment, as he flailed for a second from his spot on Iruka's worn couch.

"H-Hey, I'm sorry I said anything," Naruto sputtered. "Just forget it, I-I didn't mean anything by it. Just forget it."

"No, no! It's… It's alright, Naruto," Iruka wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and walked over to his couch. Naruto wore a blank expression and wide eyes as Iruka sat on the opposite end of it. Seeing that Iruka wasn't angry or upset, the tanned boy relaxed a bit and returned to his lax position on the couch.

Iruka continued, "Well, ah… Is there anything specific you'd like to ask?"

He knew Naruto was hiding a problem when he wouldn't eat. He was smashing the salty noodles in the styrofoam cup with his chopsticks, watching the tiny vegetables swim around in circles as he stirred. Naruto nibbled on the end of one of his chopsticks for a moment before emitting a small sigh through his nose.

"What do you think of it?"

Iruka laughed nervously. "A-And by 'it', you mean…" A flat, unamused look from Naruto stopped him from continuing. "A-Ah. Well, I believe… I believe that if a boy is having feelings for, uh, another boy, then…"

"So if a guy starts having feelings for another guy, that makes them gay, right?"

The scarred man blinked after being interrupted so suddenly. "N-Not necessarily. I mean, a little curiosity is natural among both sexes. But… if the feelings are stronger than that, such as you start having, um, 'thoughts' about a person of the same sex and… Well, around your age, it's natural to, um…"

"I think you're more nervous about this than I am."

Iruka let out a small sigh he didn't know he had been holding in. He rubbed at his hair, a few strands freeing themselves from his high ponytail. He tucked them behind his ear. A small chuckle escaped his lips, and was a bit relieved when Naruto did the same.

"Are you having these feelings, Naruto?"

To Iruka's surprise, Naruto's grin didn't disappear completely. He watched the thin fingers tap the rim of his ramen cup with his chopsticks. The tension was building slowly, though Iruka pretty much knew what Naruto was going to say next.

"Yes."

Iruka looked away for a moment and rubbed his ear. "It's… good that you told me."

Naruto bit his chopstick again. "Why's that?"

"Well, if you're having problems like this, it's good to have someone you trust to talk to." Iruka calmed his easily excited nerves and ordered his brain to form complete sentences. He cleared his throat. "So you are having these thoughts about other males?"

"I…" Naruto swallowed heavily. "Not _all_ of them. Just… a few. Or… one. Maybe. But I still like girls, though."

"Have you thought that you are possibly… bisexual?" Iruka asked quietly. Naruto shrugged. How was he supposed to know? No one had ever told him about this before. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Naruto."

"I'm not ashamed," the teen replied. "I just… don't know."

"Only you know what your, ah, preference is, Naruto. If you're having these feelings for someone, I think it's best to _tell_ someone. Don't keep it all inside."

Naruto grew quiet and watched his toes as he wiggled them back and forth. "Well, I already told you I feel this way. I just don't want everyone else to find out. But I don't want something ELSE to hide. I already feel like some sort of mutant."

"You're not a _mutant_." Iruka set his ramen cup down on his coffee table. "You can't run away from your problems. They're going to find out eventually. If you keep this to yourself, you'll be very unhappy. And that's not right."

Naruto sighed. It didn't seem like he was buying anything Iruka was saying.

"It's true that homosexuality isn't revered very highly in this village," Iruka began slowly and firmly. "And there are many people that never fully come to terms with it for fear of being rejected. And they lead sad lives, Naruto. I don't want to see you end up that way."

"Alright, alright." Naruto replied quickly, not wanting the situation to get too emotional. He was never good with that kind of thing. "I'll talk about it. There's someone I have feelings for. And, it's like the feelings I have for Sakura-chan, only it's… It's… Like, there's something else there. I don't know what it is or why it's there, but it's, y'know, stronger."

"Have you confronted this person about it?"

Naruto scrunched up his nose. "Hell no, what do you think I'm talking to you for?"

Iruka laughed a bit and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If these are strong feelings you're having, it's best to get them out in the open, or it could get very awkward in the future. Better soon than later. Is this person possibly bisexual as well?"

"Well," Naruto began. "I'd say he's more _asexual_, to tell you the truth."

"Oh dear," Iruka replied, raising an eyebrow. "That's unfortunate."

"Yeah, I know." Naruto ruffled his hair a bit. "It doesn't make things much easier if the guy shows no reaction to neither guys NOR girls. Much less, y'know, me."

"Stop that," Iruka replied flatly. "There are plenty of girls in this village who would like to date you."

"Oh, RIGHT. Name one."

Iruka's mouth opened and closed a few times. "W-Well, plenty. They're just too shy to say anything to you."

"My BS alarm's going off."

The tanned man sighed and his face took on a strained expression. "You're only seventeen; your time'll come. Stop putting yourself down so much. You never know, this guy could be secretly interested in you, too. He may be in your exact spot without anyone to talk to. Don't you think you should maybe break the ice?"

Naruto shifted a bit before replying, "I guess."

Iruka watched as Naruto stood from the couch and stretched his arms over his head. Iruka stood and did the same, feeling an uncomfortable _pop_ in his joints. He was surprised to see that he was almost eye-to-eye with Naruto now, something he admittedly thought would never happen. Now it seemed that the boy might just totally surpass him in height someday.

"So you're saying I should confront this guy?"

"I'm saying to just bring it up casually and naturally. Let him know of your feelings, and if he doesn't feel the same way, then it's okay. I'm sure you'll have plenty of other takers."

"So now I'm auctioning myself off?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Iruka-sensei, you're a terrible psychiatrist."

"Well, I try."

The two said their goodbyes and Iruka watched from the doorway as Naruto made his way into the heart of the village.

He smiled.


	9. Of Late Mornings

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

--I really want to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited or alerted this! I'm very glad you like them and I hope you enjoy the next few. ;D

**.9. Of Late Mornings**

Sasuke sat at the wooden desk they both shared. It was small and sitting proudly against a white wall in their bedroom, near the doorway. The fair-skinned man's fingers tapped against the table's surface as another hand ran through his hair. He tugged at the thick, coarse locks as he tried to force his thoughts from his head to his right hand, which held the worn down yellow pencil. Eyes narrowed at the mangled eraser, which had obviously taken a trip to the sharp points of _someone's_ teeth.

His eyes rolled as he resumed his work. Sasuke watched carefully the graphite strokes, short and quick, forming a crosshatching pattern. After a minute of this, he stared at the crisp, slightly wrinkled white paper covered in pink eraser shavings and smudged pencil splotches. He wasn't entirely pleased with what he saw, but he was making progress. Dark pink lips pursed in thought, thinking of how he could improve. He puffed lightly at the dark bangs hanging uncomfortably in his eyes.

Sasuke was enjoying the silence that had settled over the apartment while it lasted. It was a comfortable, relaxing silence; the only noises entering the residence being the late spring breeze that brushed gently passed the open window, the birds chiming in every so often, and the very faint sound of the village crowds a few blocks away. Sasuke closed his eyes briefly, and opened them at the sound of Naruto's light snoring from the bed across the room. Feeling particularly generous that morning, Sasuke had decided to let Naruto sleep in after a long two-day long mission that had ended the day before.

He glanced from Naruto's sleeping form to the small, black digital clock on the nightstand beside the bed.

_**12:43**_.

Deciding Naruto had slept in quite long enough, Sasuke stood from his wooden chair, setting his pencil down with a small _clack_ beside his paper. He swiped at the eraser shavings that had made their way onto his black sleeveless shirt and paid little attention when they fell all over the floor. He walked towards the bed and glanced at the clock once more, and then tugged on the large comforter Naruto was wrapped in that had gone slightly flat over the years. It had been Sasuke's.

"Hey," he muttered quietly, trying half-heartedly to wake the messy blond mop of hair splayed all over the pillow. When that didn't work, he grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shook him. "C'mon, you've slept long enough."

Sasuke received no response and sighed. He watched as Naruto's nose twitched and his brow creased slightly, indicating that he was probably dreaming. Possibly about mean, annoying boyfriends trying to wake him up. Sasuke leaned right over Naruto's face and stared just inches away, something Naruto did frequently to wake _him_ up. Somehow it always seemed to work, and he would always wake to big blue eyes staring him right in the face. At first, it was kind of frightening. Then he found it sort of cute. Now it was just annoying.

Sasuke hoped that he had a more menacing effect. He increased his glare and narrowed his eyes, as if giving himself more power, willing Naruto to wake up. He found himself distracted by those light freckles sprinkled across his nose. He thought about grabbing a pen and connecting them, knowing it would really piss him off. But he wisely decided against it and began to count them instead. When he reached eight, Naruto's eyes snapped open. Sasuke froze.

"What?" Naruto croaked, his voice scratchy from lack of use over the night.

"Wake up," Sasuke replied, eyes widening and leaning closer to emphasize his point.

Naruto rubbed at his hair, tangling it more than it already was. "I am awake."

Sasuke noted the hint of annoyance in the tanned man's voice. Ha, so it DID work!

The blond glared at Sasuke's long dark lashes. "You can like, move now."

Sasuke stayed put. He wasn't moving one inch; not when there was payback to be had. There was a long silence. A pink tongue poked out of Naruto's mouth and went straight for Sasuke's nose.

Sasuke yelled and stumbled backwards, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "Was that really necessary?!"

"Oh, come on," Naruto replied, flinging off the comforter and stretching after he stepped out of bed. "I've done worse."

The blond leaned towards Sasuke gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He then walked towards the desk where Sasuke had sat previously, peering at the paper. "You're trying to draw now, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed. "Sakura's tried to teach me things she's learned from Sai the passed few weeks. She was already an okay artist. So she's trying to teach me. It's a stress reliever."

"Hm, not bad." Naruto replied, picking up the pencil and taking a few seconds to doodle on the piece of paper. "Doesn't compare to my bad-ass skills, though."

Sasuke walked over and glared at what Naruto had drawn: a lovely scene of one stick figure mauling another with the words "MWAHAHAHA" in a speech bubble to the side of the scene. Sasuke glowered. "Oh, that's beautiful."

"I know, right?" Naruto began to tear off the corner of the paper that held his creation. "I'm so showing this to Sakura-chan."

"Yeah, that's a wonderful idea. Put some pants on before you start to share your artistic talent with the rest of the world." Sasuke muttered, noting Naruto was only clad in his boxers. "And go shave."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's sudden list of demands. "_Nooope_!" he sang as he left the room.

The pale man followed him into the living room as Naruto opened the front door and left with his drawing. And his boxers.

Sasuke began to wonder why exactly he got up that morning.


	10. Of PlayDoh and Applesauce

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

--This one is a little longer and I thought about submitting it separately. And then I thought, "Naaaah". Because it ended up not being as long as I thought it would be. It was inspired by having to watch my four cousins for the millionth time. So with that said, I hope you enjoy it!

**.10. Of Play-Doh and Applesauce**

Naruto closed the refrigerator door with the heel of his foot, his arms full of numerous condiments and a head of lettuce. He hurried over to the counter before his loot escaped his arms, and dropped the items on the counter's surface. Sighing with relief, he grabbed a bag of bread slices from the other side of the counter. He took out four slices (two for him and two for Sasuke) and set each pair onto their own paper plates. His mouth began to water at the sight of all the ingredients he had collected. It was his turn to "cook" lunch, and Sasuke made sure he actually did his share this time. Sasuke himself wasn't exactly a chef, but what he cooked sure was better than the stuff Naruto had come up with.

The blond scratched his chin thoughtfully. He couldn't exactly remember whether Sasuke liked ramen on his sandwich or not.

A firm knock on the front door interrupted his musings. He cursed at the interruption of lunch and strode into the living room, ready to greet whoever was on the other side. Naruto grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open.

Much to his surprise, he was greeted by one of his closest friends.

And a small child.

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked lowly, staring wide-eyed at the stranger occupying Sakura's strong, slender arms. The child's head was resting on her shoulder, half-awake, staring off into the distance with a tiny thumb in its mouth. "Is there something you want to tell us, dear?"

Sakura rolled her green eyes. She looked worn out, faint dark purple taking residence under her eyes. "Naruto, she's not mine. Today was supposed to be my day off, but you know how the hospital is."

Naruto stared blankly, then nodded slowly. Oh, no. He saw where this was going.

"This is Addie. She's my cousin's little girl." Sakura added, and looked at Naruto pointedly. He swallowed hard. "And she's four, almost five years old."

The blond man scratched at his hair and peered over at the small girl's face. He raised an eyebrow. "She still sucks her thumb?"

Sakura closed her eyes in frustration and weariness. "Naruto, _please_. Ino's working at her family's shop; so is TenTen. Hinata is on a mission with Neji, Shino and Kiba and everyone else is off doing God knows what. And I don't trust anyone else enough to watch her. Please, you guys have to help me out, here."

"Naruto, what the hell is taking so long with…" Sasuke's deep voice was heard from behind Naruto inside the apartment.

Seeing that Naruto wasn't in the kitchen, the dark haired man spun around to see the blond standing at the doorway, along with Sakura. He immediately walked towards the small group. "Hey, Sakura. What's…" his voice faltered at the sight of the small child in her arms. "Oh, no."

"Oh, come _on_, you guys!" Sakura looked about ready to collapse. "You know my schedule isn't very flexible. You guys are my last choice. Believe me, my _last choice_."

The two boys didn't know whether to be offended, or… No, offended pretty much summed it up.

"Well, fine. We can take care of a kid, can't we, 'Suke?" Naruto spoke up, hands in his jean pockets, glancing at the man beside him.

Sasuke glared. "I think that has yet to be determined."

"Wonderful! Thank you, I love you guys so much. Here," Sakura replied quickly, shoving the small girl into Naruto's tanned arms. "And here's a bag with some toys she brought herself. There's a book or two, some stickers, some Play-Doh, I think… Some blocks… A-Anyway, that should about cover it. Just play with her, feed her when she's hungry and make sure she takes a nap at some point."

Naruto and Sasuke stared. Sakura leaned towards her cousin and ruffled her hair. "Be good for Naruto and Sasuke, okay, Addie? I'll be back with mommy before you know it."

The little girl grinned around her thumb. Sakura gave both boys a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you later!" Sakura waved as she ran back across the metal surface of the outside platform of their apartment. Naruto and Sasuke watched as Sakura quickly ran down the stairs and headed off towards the hospital.

Naruto turned and walked further into the living room while Sasuke shut the door. The blond stared at the girl lying awkwardly on his shoulder.

"Are we in trouble?" he asked Sasuke.

"Of course not," Sasuke replied, grabbing the child's bag and sifting through its contents. "We can take care of a child, Naruto. Besides, haven't you taken care of kids before? I don't know what you're so worried about."

"The fact that she's Sakura's cousin, I guess," Naruto ran his hand through Addie's dark rose-colored hair that reached her shoulders. "If we screw this up, Sakura will be so _pissed_."

"We won't screw this up as long as you watch her carefully and don't get distracted. The kid comes with her own bag of things she can entertain herself with. We'll just set out some newspaper on the floor so she can play with her Play-Doh." Sasuke pulled out a small yellow container of blue Play-Doh and set it on the floor. "What's her name?"

"Addie."

"Doesn't sound like a hellion." Sasuke stood and walked over to the couch where the newspaper from the day previous day sat. He separated two sections from the stack and spread them out onto the floor. He realized he was feeling slightly nervous, having never taken care of a child before. And it wasn't that he didn't have the confidence to do so, but it just seemed as if it was something out of his hands emotionally. But he would give it a try.

As Sasuke set out a place for Addie to play, Naruto noticed the girl was particularly quiet. He had yet to see a four year old that was _that_ well behaved, especially with a stranger. "Hey, chatterbox." He shifted her to his other shoulder. "What's the matter? Why so quiet?"

"Maybe she's just shy, Naruto. Don't hassle her," Sasuke replied, standing up from setting out the Play-Doh containers. He walked over to Naruto and got a good look at Addie, seeing she had beautiful hazel eyes framed with pretty long lashes. "Not all kids act like you."

Naruto rolled his eyes and rubbed the child's back. "So she's a little lady, huh?"

He gently sat Addie down onto the newspaper, seeing just how much she looked like Sakura. She even had a small yellow hairclip on one side of her head with a tiny flower on it, holding back a few strands of dark rose. Naruto sat down in front of the child, and Sasuke did the same.

"It's weird how much she looks like Sakura." Naruto piqued, not exactly thinking over his question before he spoke.

"That's why they're FAMILY, Naruto." Sasuke stressed, glaring at him before opening a container of Play-Doh. Addie watched with wide, curious eyes, her thumb long gone from her mouth.

"Well, I didn't think cousins would look so much alike," Naruto added, not really helping his case. He dropped the subject. "Nevermind. Hand me a Play-Doh container thing."

Sasuke handed him an un-opened plastic can of yellow Play-Doh. Naruto popped off the lid and dug his fingers inside, pulling out a cylindrical mound of yellow dough.

"Ugh, this stuff smells like your feet."

Sasuke, who was busy helping Addie make a lumpy blue and green-spotted animal ("A puppy", Addie insisted), lifted up their creation. "And I don't think I need to tell you who this looks like."

Addie laughed, whether she totally comprehended the statement or not.

"Boy, you guys are hilarious." Naruto replied, slapping a flat slab of yellow onto the newspaper and rubbing it. "You don't even know."

"Look, I made a cow!" Addie exclaimed suddenly, holding up a blue lima bean-shaped figure with a face and four legs.

"Very good, Addie!" Naruto exclaimed. He tried to hold back a laugh as he watched Sasuke attempt to make (what he assumed was) a cat. Naruto looked back to his yellow dough and began to peel it off the newspaper as Addie watched curiously. The yellow dough now had a print of a TV ad from the newspaper. He showed it to the little girl in front of him. "See?"

Addie smiled widely as she did the same with her green dough. Peeling it off of the paper, she squealed when she saw half of a sports article printed onto it. Naruto cheered and clapped for her, until the green slab of dough suddenly met Sasuke's forehead with a _slap_!

Sasuke looked up at the dough sticking to his forehead, nose wrinkling as it slowly fell back onto the newspaper. On his forehead was the imprint of the article that had been on the Play-Doh. Naruto laughed loudly as Addie clapped and bounced a little, proud of her creation. Sasuke's face took on a very unamused expression and he glared at Naruto, silently daring him to say anything.

The tanned boy stopped laughing. "Alrighty, how about we do something else with the Play-Doh? We can make a story out of it. Addie, get your cow. Sasuke, get your cat-thing."

Sasuke finished up rubbing the last bit of dark gray newsprint off of his forehead, which was now a bright red from all of the rubbing. Naruto quickly rolled his yellow dough into a ball and ripped off a small chunk of it, thin fingers quickly molding it into a tiny frog. He made it 'hop' over to Addie's cow.

"One day," Naruto started. "There was a tiny yellow frog. And the frog was lost in the forest, until he saw a blue cow."

"What's a cow doing in the forest?" Sasuke asked.

"Shut up. Anyway, the frog hopped all the way over to the cow. 'Hello cow!' said the tiny frog. 'I'm lost! Do you know where I am?' he asked the cow. And the cow said…"

"I don't know! I'm lost too!" Addie continued, moving her blue Play-Doh cow as she spoke.

"Well, maybe we should ask the cat where we are!" Naruto turned his frog to face the green cat Sasuke held in between his fingers. "And the cat said…"

"… Hi." Sasuke moved the cat a bit.

"Hi." Naruto replied deeply, mimicking Sasuke's voice. "What's your name?"

Sasuke ran a hand through his dark hair briefly. "Cat."

"Wow. That's cool." Naruto replied, making his frog hop back to the cow in Addie's hand. "The cat doesn't seem to know anything either! What do we do, Cow?"

"I think I should eat him!" Addie shook her cow menacingly.

"Oh no!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why would you want to eat the cat?"

"Because I love to eat them! I eat them all the time!" Addie replied, adding random sound effects as she smashed her cow into Sasuke's cat.

"… Well, I guess that's over." Sasuke scratched at the back of his neck.

"I'm hungry." Addie declared, looking to Naruto to remedy the problem.

Noting his own hunger, Naruto stood and scooped Addie into his arms. "Alright, let's find you something to eat, then."

Sasuke stood and followed the two into the kitchen. Naruto set Addie onto the counter, and she swung her legs playfully. Sasuke saw the remains of whatever Naruto was attempting to make earlier, and was suddenly grateful for Sakura's interruption. Naruto had the cupboard open, looking doubtful.

"Uhh… We don't have very much." The blond replied, raising an eyebrow. "Well, there's always—"

Sasuke leaned towards Naruto to get a better look into the dark wooden cupboard. "If you get Sakura's four year old cousin hooked on ramen, she will _kill_ you."

"True enough," Naruto crossed his arms. "Oh, I know!"

The blond walked over towards the white standing fridge and opened the door. He reached inside and pulled out a nice sized red apple. He then opened a drawer and pulled out a steak knife. Turning the apple over a few times, he carefully sliced the skin off. While Naruto tended to the apple, Sasuke tried to entertain Addie by playing a hand game she knew. It was difficult with his hands being as large as they were, but Addie didn't seem to mind and giggled as they played.

Naruto finished peeling the apple and set it on a small plate, chopping it into smaller and smaller pieces. He put the tiny pieces into a bowl and grabbed a spoon, smashing the pieces of apple.

"What are you making?" Sasuke appeared behind Naruto, holding Addie in his arms to his side.

"Applesauce," Naruto replied, dropping the spoon into the bowl. He grabbed the glass sugar jar and pulled out a pinch of sugar. He dropped the sugar into the bowl with the smashed apple. "The apple's already sweet, but kids usually like it better if you add a tiny bit of sugar in it. Addie, what's your favorite color?"

"Green!" shouted Addie from Sasuke's arms.

Naruto opened the cupboard above them and pulled out a small cardboard container with four tiny bottles of food coloring. Sasuke rolled his eyes lightly at the sight of it, remembering the liquid as the stuff that Naruto sometimes used to turn his breakfast unappetizing colors.

The tanned man grabbed the green coloring and put a few drops of it into the applesauce. Addie watched in amazement as he stirred the sauce and it turned a bright, rich green color. Sasuke walked over to the table and set her down onto a chair, and Naruto handed her the applesauce. She began to eat it without any complaint.

Sasuke ran a hand gently through Addie's hair. "Say thank you to Naruto, Addie."

"Thank you!" Addie piqued, going back to her applesauce.

Naruto smiled and scratched an itch at his side. "You're welcome."

A few hours later, the empty bowl that once held applesauce was long forgotten and the three had since migrated into the living room. Sasuke was sitting on the couch 'reading'. He was actually watching Naruto interact with the child on the floor, as they put stickers of all sizes into a sparkling purple sticker book with a puppy on it. He watched how Naruto would praise Addie for the smallest things, and how he would even clap when she did, as she did often.

Sasuke was surprised that he wasn't annoyed with the child or how Naruto interacted with her. Usually Sasuke found children a bit hard to stand. But this was a smart little girl, and when she squealed out of joy or clapped, it didn't bother him. Addie reminded him of himself at that age, a child who was smart and wanted to know everything about the world. A child who found the simplest things amusing and wanted to be a strong, confident ninja to protect his friends and family. And most of all, to make his father proud.

It was a weird and awkward thought, but Sasuke found himself actually wanting to raise a child on occasion. Of course he had only just turned twenty, and had no clue on how to raise a child. But maybe, someday, he and Naruto could find a child in need of loving parents to show them how to find joy in simple things. And he would be there, helping that child to throw a shuriken right and how to kick straight. The child would never have to prove anything to him, just that he or she had the same pure desire to protect the ones they loved that Naruto had, and that he used to.

A loud yell broke him out of his thoughts. His head snapped up and his eyes focused. "What?"

"Oh man, look what she did," Naruto lifted his right arm to show to giant stickers stuck to it. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch! How am I supposed to get these things off?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Naruto, you're a full-fledged ninja and you're worried about pulling out a little arm hair?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," the blond replied, glaring at his arm. Addie laughed. "I-It's like waxing! You know, when girls wax their legs and shit, and it hurts really bad? What makes you think I wanna go through that kind of pain?"

"So you're saying girls can put up with that pain every week and you can't?" Sasuke smirked, closing his book and setting it beside him on the couch.

"It…" Naruto began, and stopped. "That's not what I meant."

"Do it then," Sasuke replied. "Take the stickers off."

Naruto paused. "… Fine. But only because I'm a man and my brain isn't giving me any other options but to take your challenge."

"All right, do it without screaming."

"Sasuke, you are the biggest ass I have EVER met." Naruto strained. "And I hate you."

Sasuke nodded and crossed his arms. "Good. Take the stickers off."

The tanned-skinned boy glared at his arm and the two sparkling stickers that covered it. His brows creased as his left hand began to peel the corner of the sticker off slowly. "_Sonuvabitch_…"

"Just rip it off. It'll be quicker and the pain won't last as long." Sasuke retorted.

"Shut up man, I know what I'm doing," Naruto snapped, trying to grab an edge of the sticker. Once he did, he took a deep breath, and yanked. Hard.

Tears formed in his eyes from the stinging pain and he immediately dropped the sticker and favored the smooth spot on his arm where the sticker once was. It was turning red and warm, and he tried to rub away the pain.

"All right, now the other one," Sasuke chimed. He was enjoying this.

Naruto gave Sasuke the meanest look he could muster as his fingers dug under the second sticker's corner. Eyes still watering from the pain, he ripped the second sticker from his arm. He grit his teeth as hard as he could and tried not to scream.

"Are you okay?" Addie asked, concerned.

"Oh yes," Naruto breathed. "I'm wonderful."

Sasuke picked up one of the stickers off of the floor and laughed at the large patch of small, fine blond hairs stuck to it.

"Now the hair on your arm's gonna grow back uneven," Sasuke warned, waving the sticker. "You better take the rest of it off."

"Shut. _Up_."

--

"So I suppose you want a story before your nap, huh?" Sasuke asked as he carried Addie into his room, a book in one hand.

"I don't want a nap," Addie replied, pouting.

Sasuke sat down on his bed. "Well, we'll see." Addie snuggled into the bend of his arm and waited patiently. The dark haired man looked at the book in his hand. "… You're reading _Moby Dick_?"

"Mommy is reading it to me!"

_Well, she is a Haruno_, Sasuke thought to himself. He opened the book to the page marked, and began to read to the little girl in his arms. Much to his surprise, she listened. Whether the words were sinking in or not, he wasn't sure, but with the way she was snuggled close to his chest, he didn't care. He was getting a taste of what it would be like having a child, and nothing could make him happier.

--

"… _Yeah, Sasuke was putting her down for her nap. Just wait, you'll love this._"

The wooden door to the small room opened, and Naruto and Sakura stood in the doorway. The lights were off and the light from the rest of the apartment illuminated the room. Sakura's eyes widened at the sight and she gasped slightly, not knowing what to say.

"Don't you wish you had a camera?" Naruto replied, staring at the little girl fast asleep in Sasuke's arms. Sasuke himself was completely out of it, asleep against the headboard.

"That's something I thought I'd never see," Sakura whispered, wrapping her arms around Naruto's waist. "It's the sweetest thing…"

Naruto wrapped his arms around her shoulders and leaned his head against hers. "I know. It's so corny it's cute."

"… Your right arm is very smooth," Sakura wrinkled her nose. "You… You don't _shave—_"

"No. I don't."

Sakura cocked her head to one side and chewed thoughtfully on her lip. "You know that squad sent to Suna two and a half years ago? The one that was ambushed?"

"Yeah."

"Addie's father and my uncle were in that squad," Sakura mused quietly, finding it hard to take her eyes off of the bed. Before Naruto could say anything, she added, "Addie's mother works at the hospital stationed two floors above me. There's rarely anyone to watch the poor kid."

Naruto said nothing, watching as Addie fidgeted a bit in her sleep.

"Do you think I could bring her over here more often? She seems to like it here. I think it would be good for her to have some men around. You know?"

The blond smiled widely. "Yeah. I think we'd like that."


	11. Worry

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

Done back when I should have been taking notes on Art of the 19th century. I just found it recently in my school notebook. Also, I apologize with any major typos that might occur within the next three chapters. I did my best to proofread but I've been very loopy all day and watching Chowder didn't help.

* * *

**.11. Worry**

Sasuke glanced at his watch. Five-fifty.

Naruto was supposed to meet him at the restaurant at five-thirty. The dark-eyed boy quickly slicked a pink tongue over his bottom lip and quirked an eyebrow at the empty place across the small table. The thought of Naruto running late for dinner was something that had never even crossed Sasuke's mind. What if something was really wrong?

_Calm down_, Sasuke thought to himself. _Naruto can take care of himself._ Besides, the blond was only twenty minutes late, and he himself had been nearly seven minutes late. Perhaps Tsunade had gotten a hold of him, from which there was no escaping. The brunet's thought drifted and he pictured an anxious and hungry Naruto trying to escape the "old lady's" grasp. If it was one of her lectures (which he probably rightly deserved), it could take at least an hour. Maybe forty-five minutes, if Naruto whined enough.

A sigh escaped Sasuke's nose and he brushed calloused fingers over his forehead. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose in impatience. He told his mind to shut up and stop thinking about the ridiculous situation the tall blond was probably in. The boy was late. Almost half an hour late. He drummed his fingers rhythmically on the dark wooden table and took a sip of the water a pretty, dark brown-haired waitress had brought for him.

There was a loud creak of a door heard faintly over the restaurant's dull chatter, and a light slam when it collided with the wall as it was flung open. Sasuke glanced up and saw a mop of blond hair near the waitress at the door. He rested his chin on a closed fist, eyes narrowing slightly, hoping Naruto could tell he was more than a bit irked.

Sasuke listened intently, catching a few words exchanged between Naruto and the waitress. He remained locked into position as the tanned boy strode quickly over to his table. Sasuke saw Naruto swallow hard, throat muscles contracting nervously. The blond pulled out the seat across from him. Much to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto was wearing an off-white, sand colored dress shirt and black dress pants, nicely accenting his thin silhouette.

Naruto was admittedly a bit nervous. He knew he was late and the solemn killing intent radiating from Sasuke's eyes was hard to miss. He puffed out a sigh and roughly ran a hand through his tousled blond hair. He squirmed a bit and muttered something incomprehensible. Sasuke watched as Naruto roughly un-tucked his shirt from his slacks, catching a glimpse of a lean torso in the process. The brunet quirked an eyebrow as Naruto frustratingly seemed to be "drabbing up" before his eyes. Thin fingers unbuttoned the two top buttons of his shirt and then the buttons on his sleeves.

"When you finish up there, Fabio," Sasuke replied. "Mind telling me why you're so late?"

Naruto ruffled his shirt a bit and Sasuke mentally refused to be distracted by how nice Naruto cleaned up, despite the fact that he couldn't remain that way and ruined it just seconds before. But, it worked for him. Naruto replied, "Alright," he knew he owed the fair-skinned boy a good explanation. "You're never gonna believe me, I _swear_. But I wanted to look nice for tonight. Or at least try, y'know? So I dug out some old clothes I found; probably the nicest I have."

Naruto paused and searched Sasuke's handsome features for approval. Sasuke blinked.

"_So_," he continued warily. "I went to wash'em, of course. But you know my luck. So I get down to the washer room and the stupid washer's broken. Long story short, I ended up helping the manager fix it. You know I would never blow you off on purpose, Sasuke."

Sasuke sighed, rubbing a finger over the broad bridge of his nose. "You were late because you had to fix a washer?"

"Yes. Man, I'm sorry. I didn't plan for this, you know. But I'm here now."

Suddenly, the brown-haired waitress returned to the table to take their orders, tight spiral curls bouncing at her shoulders. Sasuke asked for pork _jiaozi_ dumplings while Naruto asked for the same along with a bowl of miso ramen. Naruto usually ate nearly triple what Sasuke did and he always wondered how they both managed to stay around the same weight.

Naruto handed his menu back to the waitress with what Sasuke swore was a flirtatious look. He felt his ears flush slightly. The waitress left and he opened his mouth. "Why do you always have to flirt with every nice set of legs that walks by?"

"What…? Flirting?" Naruto narrowed his eyes in confusion; whether it was sincere or not, Sasuke couldn't be too sure. Naruto could hide things way too well, and Sasuke himself always had difficulty determining emotions in others. "Why the hell would I be _flirting_?"

"That's what I was wondering," Sasuke replied, nonchalantly tapping his fingers on the table.

Naruto paused for a moment, but then his face took on a knowing expression and he sat back in his seat. "So, flirting, huh? You thought I was hitting on that poor innocent waitress?"

It took all Sasuke had from smacking his forehead on the table's hard surface. "I know your flirting face; you were definitely flirting with that waitress. It takes a lot of guts to do that in front of me."

"I can't help it if I appreciate the beauty of both sexes, now, can I?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and rubbed at his reddening neck. Why was he feeling slightly embarrassed? His emotions didn't seem to make any sense anymore.

"I don't believe you." Sasuke shook his head. "Do you even hear yourself talk?"

"Sasuke, _lighten up_ a little," Naruto gesticulated, blond brows creasing. "I was just kidding. Geez, it's not like I asked her out or pinched her ass or something. I wasn't even attracted to her in the first place! Why would I pull that shit when you're around anyway? Give me a little more credit."

_Lighten up_? Sasuke scoffed lightly and scratched at his hair. Easier said than done. But was he being too paranoid? He didn't think he was. As far as he was concerned, he had every right to question Naruto every time he grinned and narrowed those blue eyes of his, and batted those long blond eyelashes at every waitress that came by. He had every right to wonder whether Naruto truly wanted to be with him, and _only_ him, in these situations.

As much as Sasuke hated to admit it, he was worried. He worried (albeit unnecessarily) over many little things. He took comfort in solidity and things that were guaranteed, and Naruto was usually one of those things. Yet Sasuke's over-analyzing brain sometimes got the better of him, and he worried about the future of their relationship. Often the result of his worrying would be outwardly displayed as anger or frustration, and wouldn't appear to come off as 'worried' to others. He was constantly thinking, constantly concerned. Would Naruto still be there when he woke up in the morning? Had he gotten too comfortable and taken Naruto for granted? And what was stopping Naruto from giving up on him and hooking up with Sakura instead?

Okay, _now_ he was thinking too much again. Sakura respected their relationship and would never do such a thing, even if Naruto wanted to. And Naruto wasn't like that at all.

"Sasuke?"

The dark-eyed man snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Naruto's voice pronounce his name with a hint of concern.

"You're spacing out on me," Naruto added, fingers fidgeting with a large napkin in front of him. "I-I'm sorry I said those stupid things. Please don't be mad."

Sasuke took in a slow deep breath through his nose, eyes fluttering closed and then opening again.

"I'm not mad." Sasuke replied, calming his nerves. There was a short pause before his slightly larger hand found Naruto's and he grabbed it, rough thumb rubbing over the other's knuckles. He hoped he wouldn't have to explain himself. He was no good at it, and would probably just make things worse.

Much to his surprise, a small grin lit up Naruto's features as he replied, "Good."

Sasuke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"… Because you worry too much."


	12. Perfection

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

A sort of introspective one. One of the drabbles I was writing while trying to figure out how the hell Sasuke thinks.

* * *

**.12. Perfection**

It wasn't hard for Sasuke to deny the fact that he was growing older. It was obvious, with the dropped tone of his voice and the many inches of height he had gained. As he stood at the old height chart occupying a small portion of the wall, he could see that he was _just_ passed the respectable five-foot-seven he had been the year before. Further down the chart there was a large gap in the numbers that marked his height due to his absence, the previous numbers being just shy of five-feet-two.

The dark-haired man (now a ripe age of twenty-one) wondered if his growing would cease any time soon. It was safe to assume that he had now passed the final stretch of his growth spurt induced by puberty, which at one time he thought would never come. In his childhood days he was always of normal height and stature, healthy as could be for a boy his age. Yet nearly a year into his infamous departure with the late Sound, he received a stalling in his vertical growth. At a time where he should have been sprouting like a weed, the only thing growing seemed to be his shoe size.

He had put up with Orochimaru's taunts that year, the mocking and snide remarks aimed at his height; receiving them so often as if Orochimaru believed they could somehow make him grow. Sasuke had grown increasingly frustrated throughout the months that followed, praying that he would become "normal again" and regain his lost height. It was something not even the most powerful training regimen could fix. He wanted to be perfect.

It wasn't long before nature finally kicked in and gave him a long-awaited boost, allowing him to shoot up to five-foot-five, and eventually five-foot-six. Quite satisfied with his newfound stature, Sasuke relished in the fact that while he was training his body into a _tall_, toned, swift, well-oiled machine, there was a blond ninja back in Konoha that was (_he hoped_) still embarrassingly trying to reach the cookies in the cookie jar. Naruto _was_ the shortest, would always be the shortest, and Sasuke would _always_ be tall, always normal. Perfect. And that's just how it was.

Unfortunately for the lone Uchiha, this was no longer the case. Sasuke hated reliving the shock of threateningly putting an arm around Naruto years ago, only to discover that the orange and black clad ninja was at _least_ five-foot-four. What in the world had _he_ done, to gain such height in such a short amount of time? No, _no_, it was all wrong; but Sasuke was still taller than Naruto. And he intended to keep it that way, thank you.

Years passed and faces changed, family returned home and no one would ever be the same. It took Sasuke a long while before he could finally settle into an apartment of his own, under heavy guard of Konoha's finest. Things that needed to be said were said and all was just short of forgiven, but they would live.

-

As far as Naruto was concerned, Sasuke was a good looking guy. Sure, his hair was oily and stiff and molded into a ridiculous shape, but who was he to complain? He still ran his long fingers through that hair, twirling and fidgeting with the ends whenever he felt the need to do so.

Naruto was a watcher. He watched people walking down the street, outside his window, crossing sidewalks below and when they were right in front of him. He watched Sasuke as he sat at the small wooden desk pushed up against the side of his room whenever he visited. He watched the long, pale fingers make confident strokes with an old chewed pencil that should have been thrown out long ago.

The light made Sasuke's fair skin practically glow; smooth and almost unmarked save for the tiny, scratchy black hairs at the rough contours of his chin and jaw. Naruto sat on his bed, back against the headboard and sprawled, occasionally glancing at the week-old magazine he was holding inches from his face. He felt his neck begin to stiffen and situated himself, blue eyes never leaving the man at the desk. The blond bit at a previously-chewed thumbnail subconsciously, eyes darting back and forth between his reading material and his subject.

Sasuke just seemed so… perfect at first glance. His skin was pale, but didn't hold a sickly pallor. His hair was deeply dark and had an unusual sheen, accenting his fair-skinned features. Naruto had always thought that Sasuke's beautiful almond-shaped eyes were as black as his hair, only to find that they were a rich, dark chocolate brown in the right light. And now there was such a shine to them that wasn't there before; his eyes had become _readable_. Naruto liked to be able to tell what others' true emotions were through their eyes, and now he could finally read Sasuke. It was comforting.

Naruto knew that most in the village (while their attitudes weren't as favorable towards the Uchiha as they once had been) would agree that Sasuke was damn near physically flawless.

But Naruto didn't like perfection. He didn't like flawless. He could see what they didn't; the oily hair, the calloused fingers with a rough touch, the faint five o'clock shadow, the gray-purple under his eyes, the fact that two of his toes on his left foot were the same size… He observed and found that his 'perfect' Sasuke wasn't so perfect after all and he _loved_ it.

-

Sasuke was fond of perfection, in an organized fashion. He liked logic and facts and things that made sense. There were things that were supposed to go together, and things that weren't. Some things looked good together, and others didn't. He wasn't one to question his own habit of making sure what he had around him was appealing his eyes; he had always been that way. He assumed most others were the same.

As he took pride in years of 'perfecting' himself, he found himself strangely attracted to things that weren't so perfect. Things that _didn't_ make sense. Things that logic had no say in and things that could not be explained.

Sasuke knew most would say that Naruto wasn't perfect by any means. So why had these feelings bubbled in the back of his mind for so long, and why hadn't he realized? As his view of perfection slowly began to distort without realizing, ironically Sasuke saw perfection in things he hadn't before.

Naruto was quite different. Sasuke had his own names for these 'differences' and made every effort to say them to his face. Ugly, stupid, short, scrawny, reject, idiot. Those were the differences Sasuke noticed between Naruto in the rest of the village. No, the differences between Naruto and _himself._

Different wasn't perfect. Therefore, different was ugly and different was bad. Sasuke didn't have time to waste on things that weren't perfect. Time was precious, and he had to savor every single minute. And yet in all that time spent focusing on things that were perfect, he _wasted_ time. Time he couldn't get back.

To Sasuke, Naruto was different from the rest of the villagers (himself) in every possible way. No one else wore _those_ clothes. No one else had that tan. No one else had his blond. No one else ran like that. No one else _walked_ like that. No one else saw the world like that. But this changed gradually years and years down the road. Imperfections turned into perfections that only he knew about. Perfection wasn't what everyone else _around_ him saw, but what Naruto would allow him and only him to see.

Perfect was Naruto opening his mind and heart to Sasuke and telling him how he _truly_ felt, despite his pride. It was deep blue eyes hidden under pale lashes when he thought his eyes revealed too much, and then telling Sasuke the problem anyway. It was the fact that Sasuke was the only one allowed to touch the sensitive bare skin of the blonds' shoulders and Naruto was the only one who could get his fingers tangled awkwardly in Sasuke's dark locks after playing with it for hours on a rainy afternoon.

It was then that Sasuke had come to terms with the fact that his world was vastly different from what it once was. When before he had no one who cared, he now had someone who loved. He had someone to be himself around and to tell his deepest secrets to without being judged. No one had even _tried_ to get close to him like that before. No one wanted to make the effort that went along with gaining the lone Uchiha's trust.

And it was these things, Sasuke decided, that made all of life's changes worth living for.


	13. In Sickness and in Health

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

Written a few weeks ago when I had a bad cold and I really wanted to complain. So I decided to whine about being sick and torture Sasuke all in one go! :D

* * *

**.13. In Sickness and in Health**

A loud, deafening sneeze erupted from the small apartment, immediately followed by a short dry cough. Sasuke felt as if he had no control over himself anymore, with his sluggish movements and uncontrollable urges to cough or violently sneeze out what ever evil germ had dared to invade his body. An index finger and thumb met his temples as hot eyelids fell over his dark eyes, and the other hand held a tissue that was currently shoved up his sensitive nostrils.

He thoroughly disgusted himself with the amount of snot he had lost over the course of the day, cursing his body for producing it in such unnecessary amounts. The Uchiha had lost track of how many times he had sneezed that day alone, and how many times he had felt one coming, only to have it stuck for a painfully long time and eventually just pour out his nose. However, in the boredom that came with spending the entirety of the day bedridden, Sasuke had discovered if he pressed a spot under his sinuses just right, he could sneeze and feel the relief that came with it. That is, until his nose plugged again.

Sasuke leaned back and let his head crack against the headboard, feeling the impact resonate dully in his congested ears. Where was Naruto with his tissues? He barely lasted half a day with the partially used box he had lifted from the bathroom. The dark haired boy glared at his box of tissues, and grew increasingly frustrated at his own uselessness. He didn't like being waited on. Yet while it was actually sort of nice (and Naruto hadn't objected or complained one bit… as of then), he felt like total deadweight. He was submerged in a groggy, stuffed up world where he was less-than-coherent and could barely do simple everyday tasks, let alone stand up straight. And he had Naruto running around like some sort of mother hen, bringing him whatever decongestant or liquid he needed.

Sasuke found himself pouting subconsciously. He just felt… _gross_.

"Hey Snuffles, I brought your tissues." a comforting voice rang in Sasuke's ears, snapping him out of whatever foggy world he had slipped into.

"Oh," was all he managed to croak out, his brain not capable of forming full sentences.

Dark eyes watched as Naruto dropped a large bag on the floor and pulled out of it three rectangle tissue boxes decorated with various shapes and designs. He opened each one and set them around Sasuke's blanket-covered body, like guards.

"It looks like you're building a fort," Naruto commented, motioning to the white crumpled tissues scattered about the floor and overflowing from a giant black trash bag. Once the bag had begun to overflow, Sasuke just hadn't cared anymore and threw the used tissues about the floor. He couldn't care less about being sanitary.

Dark eyes narrowed, and Sasuke shook his head and leaned back against the headboard. Naruto sighed and slumped onto the bed, ruffling his hair. He ran a tanned hand over his stomach as his eyes roamed the snotty carnage covering the floor, then back to Sasuke. "Are you feeling any better?"

"No." Sasuke replied flatly. Of course he wasn't, he had only been sick for a day and a half. What kind of question was that? It was probably Naruto that gave him the cold in the first place, him and his lack of decent sanitary habits and love of all things messy and obnoxious. Speaking of which, if he tripped on _one more_ pair of boxers in the middle of the living room…

_Stop being a drama queen,_ he told himself. _That's just the cold talking. Naruto didn't do anything wrong and he's taking care of your sorry ass, so be grateful_.

Sasuke reached for a tissue, silently marveling at the fresh, new savior, and blew his nose as hard as he could. It hurt like hell, but whatever he could do to rid himself of the disgusting fluid he would do. "Do we have any medicine?"

Blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I think there's some left. Probably is. Not a lot though, so use it when you really need it."

"I really need it." Sasuke replied, eyebrow quirked. "If I sneeze one more time, my head'll explode."

"Well, I don't wanna clean _that_ shit up." Naruto scrunched his nose and patted Sasuke on the leg. "I'll get some for you, but you should have something in your stomach first. You didn't eat yet today."

"Naruto, I'm not hungry. At all. Can I just have the damn medicine?"

"What? It's almost three-thirty in the afternoon and you're not hungry? What are you, some kinda freak?" the blond replied jokingly, adjusting Sasuke's wrinkling covers and tissue boxes.

"A freak who's been eating mucous consistently for the past day and a half."

"Alrighty, that's more than I needed to know," Naruto rubbed at his forehead. "I'm getting you something anyway so the medicine can absorb better. It won't be much, I promise."

"Get me ramen and I'll beat your ass."

"Now, did I say that's what I was gonna do? Yeesh, Princess," Sasuke glared at the innocent flutter of pale eyelashes. "… But if that's all we have, will you take it out on me?"

"Yes, because you're the one who keeps buying it."

Naruto stood and stretched his arms over his head. "No use whining about it, it's what I would have gotten you anyway. It's the closest thing to soup we have."

Sasuke closed his eyes in irritancy, finding it useless to argue and lacking the strength to do so. All he wanted at that moment was to enough cold medicine to send him higher than a kite and knock him out for a few hours. "Whatever."

A grin spread across Naruto's features as he knelt over to give Sasuke a hug and a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "I love ya."

"Sure you do."

--

"Open up!"

Sasuke glared at the spoon that floated mere inches away from the tip of his nose. He sighed. "Dear God."

"Open up or I'm feeding it to you through your ears."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the blond, burning a hole right through him. Medicine. That's all he wanted. Was that too much to ask?

"Shit, it's just the BROTH. Quit looking at me like I'm feeding you liquid nitrogen." Naruto shoved the spoonful closer so that it just grazed Sasuke's lips.

Unable to muster up an Uchiha-worthy witty retort, Sasuke _just barely_ parted his lips. Naruto took the opportunity to shove the spoon into his mouth and make sure it was licked clean. Sasuke nearly cringed at the saltiness of the liquid as it passed over his tongue. He managed to swallow it, feeling a bit of relief as the hot liquid slid down his sore throat.

"Good. I know how hard that was for you," Naruto dipped the spoon back into the bowl of ramen and gathered more broth. He took a deep breath and replied mockingly, "Alright… brace yourself."

"Just hurry _up_ so I can have the damn medicine already!" Sasuke would have continued if not for the spoon being once again shoved into his mouth.

"Brave soul," Naruto shook his head and set the spoon down onto the bedside dresser beside him. He picked up a pair of chopsticks, dipped them into the bowl and gathered a small portion of noodles. "Okay, here's the real challenge."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was hardly in the mood to tolerate sarcasm. He knew he should have been more grateful that he had a boyfriend who cared so much about him, but sometimes Naruto didn't help himself. Yet he accepted the noodles presented to him, grateful that he wasn't made to eat all of them, at the risk of upsetting his stomach. Naruto (somehow) seemed to know what he was doing, so he ate the noodles without too much complaint. But _ugh…_ the _salt_.

Finally he was offered the ambrosia that was his cold medicine, which Naruto poured with shaking hands from a bottle, trying desperately not to spill it everywhere. With a smile the blond slipped the small bit of medicine into Sasuke's mouth, inwardly feeling proud that he was taking care of him. It was nice to feel depended on.

Naruto set the medicine on the dresser and proceed to eat the rest of the ramen.

"You're going to get sick if you do that, idiot. You're using the same chopsticks I ate off of." Sasuke pointed out flatly, eagerly awaiting the effects of the cold medicine to take him faaar, far away.

"Nah, I won't. Don't worry about it. At the most I'd end up sick for like, a day," Naruto replied through chopsticks and noodles. "And it has to be a pretty bad germ to keep me down for that long. Your cold won't do much to me."

"You've never been sick before?" Sasuke asked, his throat suddenly feeling scratchy. He cleared it loudly, feeling a slight burn as he did so.

"I have. Twice. Both times with a bad flu," Naruto continued, setting down his empty bowl and laying down next to Sasuke. He slipped an arm over the other's chest and pulled him close. He nuzzled his nose into Sasuke's matted dark locks. "The first time lasted about half a day when I was younger, about eight or so. By sundown I was just as healthy as I was the day before. Second time was when I was fourteen and with Jiraiya. I don't know how I would have gotten it then, since it was a short period of time where we weren't really around a lot of people, but whatever. I got over it within a few hours. It was a bitch because I still had to train, whether I was sick or not. I puked loads afterwards."

"Lovely." Sasuke closed his eyes, the medicine finally taking effect. He shifted closer to Naruto and let himself be comforted by the warmth of his body and the tone of his voice. A small breeze flew through the open window; just enough to ruffle his hair a bit and cool off his forehead.

"But it's a nice set up," Naruto gave Sasuke a squeeze and placed a kiss on the top of his head. "That way I can make sure you get back on your feet quicker without worrying about catching your nasty germs."

"They were someone else's nasty germs before they were mine, so watch it." Sasuke quietly replied, feeling his mind give way to a groggy, but _very_ comfortable, sleep.

He turned onto his side and snuggled into Naruto's chest, breathing in his scent and the smell of fabric softener. He buried his nose (which had miraculously stopped running due to the great power of medicine) into the fabric and slipped away to dreamland, with Naruto running his fingers through his hair.


	14. Confessions

Raspberry Cocktail

_A little sweet raspberry mixed with a little sour lime, and just enough liquor so the world makes sense._

**Warnings:** NaruSasuNaru, BL, language

- Continuation of chapter 8. I wasn't really planning on doing one, but the idea struck me today so I decided to go ahead and write it.

* * *

**.14. Confessions**

"I… Well, I love you."

Much to his surprise, Sasuke didn't move. His eyes didn't dart back and forth looking for nonexistent physical explanations, and his fingers didn't fidget awkwardly with the hem of his dark-washed jeans. His thin lips didn't curve downward in disappointment, anger or confusion, and his eyes didn't narrow in disgust. The boy was a complete human statue, save for the tip of a pink tongue that rubbed at his dry lips. For nearly a minute not a word escaped his throat and passed his lips and there was no acknowledgement of the question that had been asked from either side.

Naruto forced himself to remain frozen, only moving to slowly scratch an itch at his elbow. Even the slightest movements made the situation seem more uncomfortable. He swallowed hard and took to staring at the toes sticking out of his dirty brown sandals which had once been an odd shade of green-gray. His back began to hurt from the position he was sitting in on the hard dirt near the edge of the small pond. For some reason he had the urge to scoot himself closer and dip his fingers into the cold water to snap himself out of this uncharacteristic daze he seemed to be in. His neck began to burn and itch in immediate embarrassment but he settled for scratching at the drawstring on the edge of his baggy tan cargo shorts.

The blond suddenly regretted everything he just said. Why did this always happen? Now he was going to end up hurt. He was sure of it. He wanted to smack himself for acting like some love-struck nervous schoolboy.

Sasuke's mind was going through a series of jumbled thoughts and possibilities. Naruto didn't say he _might_ be in love with him. He didn't say he _could_ be in love with him. He didn't even say he might _like_ him. He said 'love'. It was just like Naruto to use such a strong word to describe his feelings without knowing of the gravity behind the word. Did he even realize what he just said? Sometimes the blond annoyed Sasuke by doing such things without really giving thought to how others would think.

Of course… there was the off chance he really _did_ know what he was saying. The thought of someone actually being truly in love with him made Sasuke's stomach feel strange, and made him feel a little afraid. He had seen the way women looked at him with appreciation and the little girls that had trailed behind him in school, hoping day after day that he would be the one to play with them during recess and eat with them at lunch time. But this could be the real deal. Schoolgirl crushes would fade away. But love didn't. Love could hurt. Love came with responsibilities.

Sasuke wasn't entirely sure he was ready for that. And the thought of possibly having feelings towards another man made things even more complicated. These were feelings he tried to suppress. How could Naruto just say 'love' so casually as if everything would be okay?

"Naruto," Sasuke finally spoke quietly (yet firmly) to break the ice, while trying not to sound doubtful… or scared. At the sound of his name Naruto seemed to relax a bit, but at the same time Sasuke saw the tan hands fingering the dirt tense. "What exactly are you saying?"

The blond took on a look that reminded Sasuke of a child being scolded. "Well… It's obvious. I'm saying that I love you. That's what I said wasn't it?"

"Yes, but…" Sasuke screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his face in frustration. "Why 'love' and not just 'like'?"

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek. "I don't know. It's not like I can choose my feelings."

Okay, so there was some hope that Naruto really knew what he was saying. Somewhat. Sasuke sighed lightly through his nose.

"I guess you think everything's that simple, then?" Sasuke replied, glancing out at the pond. He didn't want to sound dismissive or angry, because he wasn't. He hoped that Naruto wouldn't take his statement the wrong way and overreact.

"It's not that I think it's simple or something. I just thought it was best to tell you straight out how I really felt. And I-I feel like I've loved you for a long time."

Naruto did his best to talk in an assured tone to get his feelings across. He was only being honest, and the worst that could happen was Sasuke not returning his feelings. Surely he wouldn't alienate him over such a thing. At least, he _hoped_ he wouldn't, after all they had been through.

"What about Sakura?"

The question surprised Naruto, and he didn't expect Sasuke to bring their rose-haired friend into the conversation. But then, Naruto supposed, he shouldn't have been so surprised. Sakura was a part of their family and Naruto had quite an infatuation for her for a number of years. Of course Sasuke was curious to know where Naruto's heart really was.

The blond pursed his lips before answering. "I love her as a child could love another child. You know, as a friend could love another friend with everything they have and are willing to do anything to protect them or avoid hurting them. I'd do anything for her. I know you would too."

Sasuke nodded faintly in quiet understanding.

"But there are different kinds of love, you know." Naruto stopped talking, fingers absentmindedly flicking at tiny pebbles that gathered at his feet.

"I know." Sasuke found himself staring at Naruto's fingers as they played in the dirt.

"So uh, what about you, then?" the blond asked nervously, wary of the answer. He wasn't good with rejection and this was something that weighed heavily in his heart. He stayed up at night thinking of different scenarios that would play themselves over and over in his imagination. Each time it would leave him with a dull headache and a turning stomach. It left him nervous and unsure.

After a few short moments Sasuke replied, "I'm… not really sure."

Naruto forced a nod in acceptance and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He became angry when he felt pressure behind his eyes and a wetness misting the corners. It shouldn't have been happening; he had planned for this. He had planned for being rejected in a million different possible ways and still leaving with his pride intact. Why did rejection still hurt after he had been immune to it for so long? He felt as if all those nights he had spent telling himself that he _was_ worth something, that he _wasn't_ trash or a bastard or whatever they had called him that day, were completely wasted. This was something he had spent his _entire life_ doing, and suddenly it was all falling around him because of this one man. It brought on a sick feeling of hopelessness that he quickly tried to suppress.

"But… I'd be willing to give it a try."

Sasuke's voice rang softly in his ears as the weight lifted slowly, and the sick feeling was replaced with a renewed vigor and an eagerness that wasn't there before. Sasuke noticed the change in Naruto's expression as wide blue eyes looked right into his own, as if he were looking right through him.

"Seriously?"

The dark-haired boy nodded and a barely-there smiled tugged at the corners of his lips. "Yeah. I'll…" he cleared his throat. "I'll try."

"You don't have to _try_, Sasuke. Just… be yourself. Like always."

Sasuke watched as Naruto's smile genuinely reached his eyes and he looked as if he wanted to reach out to him, but was silently restraining himself. The blond sucked at his bottom lip and his eyes quickly looked to the left before meeting Sasuke's eyes again.

"Well, er… Just in case you feel like backing out, here's a preview."

Two full lips ghosted over Sasuke's cheek before pressing against it quickly. Sasuke felt pale eyelashes brush against the top of his fair-skinned cheekbones in contrast to the rough lips below them. The small gesture was surprising and Sasuke felt himself stiffen slightly at the contact before loosening up again. He felt... oddly warm. And safe. He felt his anxiety shrink and an exhilarating feeling near his stomach.

Naruto's lips left Sasuke's cheek and he scratched at the dark hair at the base of his neck. He felt his ears flush and it wasn't long before it spread lightly to his face. He turned to meet Naruto's smiling eyes.

"Sometimes it's just that simple."


End file.
